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PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT ADDRESSING THE CITIZENS 
OF ATLANTA, GEORGIA, OCTOBER 20, 1905 



Presidential 

Addresses and State 

Papers of 





Theodore Roosevelt 



PART FOUR 



WITH PORTRAIT FRONTISPIECE 



Published with the Permission of the President 
Through Special Arrangement 




The Publishers desire lo mal<e clear to the readers that President Roosevelt 

retains no pecuniary interest in the sale of the volumes containing these 

speeches. He feels that the material contained in these addresses 

has been dedicated to the public, and that it is, therefore, 

not to be handled as copyrighted material from which 

the President should receive any pecuniary return. 



i>-u 



PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES 
AND STATE PAPERS 

PART FOUR 



PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESSES AND 
STATE PAPERS 

AT THE LUNCHEON OF THE MERCHANTS' 
CLUB, CHICAGO, ILL., MAY lo, 1905 

Mr. President and Gentlemen: 

This country of ours is pre-eminently a business 
country, and we can succeed only if as a country 
we carry on the national business as the typical 
member of this association carries on his business; 
that is, in an entirely practical spirit, in a " spirit 
which desires and commands success, but which de- 
sires it and commands it as an incident to acting with 
decency toward all our fellow-citizens. No business 
community can permanently succeed if the average 
member of it does not possess a certain quantity of 
high ideals ; and, gentlemen, there is not a business 
man of large experience here who will not agree 
with me when I say that. Permanent success will 
come to the business community where the average 
man's word can be trusted, where the average man 
himself can be trusted in dealing with his fellows. 
Just as that is true of the average business commu- 
nity, so it is true of the Nation as a whole. 

The Nation must act in a spirit which gives full 

recognition to the national demands, which is not in 

the least Quixotic, which sees the need of working 

for the interests of the average individual of the 

Nation, but in a spirit which recogfnizes duties as 

well as rights, which recognizes this in our internal 

affairs, which recognizes it in our external affairs. 

This leads me up to a subject concerning which 
I— Vol. XVI (361) 



364 Presidential Addresses 

regard for the rights of others, but of scrupulous 
courtesy toward others ; and at the same time to see 
us keep prepared so that there is no position that we 
take in either hemisphere that once taken we can not 
stand on. With this in order not only is it important 
that the Government officials should behave them- 
selves, but it is also important that private citizen^ 
should. The public speaker, the writer in the press, 
the legislator, the public servant, all owe it to this 
country to behave with the courtesy toward others 
which we would like to have extended toward us; 
but to behave with that courtesy whether it is ex- 
tended in return or not. Outsiders can not hurt us 
by being insolent so long as we behave ourselves. 
What they say is of no consequence to us com- 
pared to what we say to them. Hard words will 
not hurt us if we will only disregard them. Let 
them say anything ; but let us go on and build up the 
navy. That will be a much greater provocative to 
friendship and respect than any amount of recrimi- 
nation. I have a right to appeal to the men here 
before me, to the men who in so many different 
walks take the lead in this great city, to aid in con- 
sistently building up just that type of foreign policy, 
a foreign policy under which we shall make the name 
of the United States Government a symbol on the 
one hand, as it ought to be, for the just and proper 
insistence upon its own rights, but also a symbol for 
a disinterested and generous willingness to treat all 
other nations, all other powers, with just and with 
frank courtesy and good-w'ill, and to make it evi- 



And State Papers 365 

dent that in this cauntry's foreign policy it recog- 
nizes its duty toward the weak just as much as its 
responsibility to the strong. 

AT THE BANQUET OF THE IROQUOIS CLUB, 
CHICAGO, ILL., MAY 10, 1905 

Mr. President, Mr. Toastmaster, and you, my 
Hosts: 
Our country is governed, and under existing cir- 
cumstances can only be governed, under the party 
system,Jand that should mean, and that will mean, 
when we have a sufficient number of people who take 
the point of view that Judge Dickinson takes, that 
there shall be a frank and manly opposition of party 
to party, of party man to party man, combined with 
an equally frank refusal to conduct a party contest 
in any such way as to give good ^Americans cause 
for regret because of what is said before election, 
when compared with what is said after election. 
The frankest opposition to a given man or a given 
party on questions of public policy not only can be, 
but almost always should be, combined with the 
frankest recognition of the infinitely greater number 
of points of agreement than of the points of differ- 
ence. I have accepted your kind and generous in- 
vitation to come before you this evening, because the 
longer I am in public life the more firmly T am con- 
vinced that the great bulk of the questions of most 
importance before us as a people are questions which 
we can best decide not from the standpoint of re- 
publicanism or democracy, but from the standpoint 



^66 Presidential Addresses 

of the interests of the average American citizen, 
whether Repubhcan or Democrat. ^ "" 

This is true of both foreign and domestic ques- 
tions. Our pohtical differences should, and in the 
great majority of cases do, disappear at the water's 
edge. When I had to choose a man to represent to 
a peculiar degree the interests of this Government in 
one of the most important foreign negotiations of 
recent years — that concerning the Alaskan boundary 
— I chose the best lawyer, one of the ablest public 
men, and one of the most fair-minded patriots that 
could be found in the country; and the fact that he 
was of opposite political faith did not interfere with 
Judge Dickinson's doing that work well. That was 
a question that concerned the United States — all of 
the United States, f Most questions that come up 
in Washington are questions that go much deeper 
than party, are questions that affect the whole 
country, and the man would be indeed unfit for 
the position of President who did not feel that 
when he held that office he held it in the most 
emphatic sense as the representative of all the 
people. — 

One of the works that Uncle Sam has on hand 
just at present is digging the Panama Canal; and it 
is going to be dug. It is going to be dug honestly 
and as cheaply as is compatible with efficiency; but 
with the efficiency first. I wanted Congress to give 
me power to remodel the commission. It did not do 
it. So I remodeled it anyhow, purely in the exer- 
cise of my executive functions. I made up my mind 



And State Papers 367 

this time that I was not going to make the slightest 
effort to represent different sections of the country 
on that commission, that I was going to have the 
whole country represented, by putting the best man 
I could get in any given position, without the slight- 
est regard to where he came from ; and while it was 
an accident, still I may mention it as a fortunate ac- 
cident that the two most important positions were 
filled from Illinois — Shonts and Wallace are both 
from Illinois. 

These are external questions, as regards which 
the interests of the whole country and not the inter- 
ests of any party or any section of the country must 
be considered by the President. So it is with cer- 
tain of our great internal policies. 

Among the vital questions that have come up for 
solution, because of the extraordinary industrial de- 
velopment of this country, as of all the modem 
world, are the questions affecting capital and labor 
as regards each other, and the questions resulting 
from the effect upon the public of the organization 
into great masses of both capital and labor. I be- 
lieve thoroughly in each kind of organization, but 
I recognize that if either kind of organization does 
what is wrong, the increase in its power for effi- 
ciency that has resulted from the combination means 
the increase in its power to do harm; and that, 
therefore, corporation — that is, organized capital — 
and union — that is. organized labor — must alike be 
held to a peculiar responsibility to the public at 
large, and that from each alike we have the right to 



368 Presidential Addresses 

demand not only obedience to the law, but service 
to the pubhc. 

There are two sides to what I have said, and we 
are very apt to hear only insistence upon one side — 
sometimes insistence upon one side, sometimes in- 
sistence upon the other, but not as often as we 
should insistence upon both sides. 

I take up first the question of organized capital. 
When this Nation was created, such a thing as a 
modern corporation not only did not exist, but could 
not be imagined. This is especially true of the great 
modern corporations engaged in interstate com- 
merce. A century ago the highways of commerce 
were exactly such as they had been from the days of 
the dawn of civilization on the banks of the Nile 
and in Mesopotamia. All that could be done by 
waterways and by roads for wheeled vehicles drawn 
by animal power had been dcAeloped to a very 
marked degree ; but sails, oars, wheeled vehicles and 
beasts of burden were, as they had been for many 
thousands of years, the only means of commerce, the 
only methods by which individuals or corporations 
engaged in commerce could act. Under such cir- 
cumstances the fathers and founders of this Repub- 
lic could not foresee, and therefore, doubly, could 
not provide for, the conditions of the present day. 
We now have the great highways of commerce of 
an entirely different kind. The waterway, the road 
for wheeled vehicles, have sunk into absolute insig- 
nificance compared with the railway. We there- 
fore have for the first time in history a highway 



And State Papers 369 

for the commerce of all the people under the control 
of a private individual or private corporation. Now, 
gentlemen, let me in the first place insist upon 
this fact, that we should keep ever before us that 
the men who have built up the great railroad sys- 
tems of this country, like the men who have built 
up the other great industries of this country, have 
as a rule (there are exceptions, but as a rule) 
made their fortunes as incidents to benefiting and 
not to harming the country. As a rule benefit and 
not harm has come from their efforts, and in mak- 
ing fortunes for themselves they have done good 
to all of us. We have all benefited by the talents of 
the great captains of industry. I am speaking, as I 
say, as a rule, with full knowledge of the exceptions 
to what I say, but disregarding those exceptions in 
making a general statement. We can not afford to 
do damage to those men or to those corporations, 
because in the first place we can not afford to do in- 
justice to any man, rich or poor ; in the next place, be- 
cause to do such damage to them would mean wide- 
spread damage among the wage-workers and among 
the general public. All of this that I have said I 
wish kept in mind steadily in appreciating what 
I am about to say; for while acknowledging in 
the frankest manner the benefits that have come 
from the development of these great industrial 
enterprises, I also feel that we must recognize 
that the time has now come when it is essential 
in the interests of the public that there should be, 
and be exercised, an effective power of supervision 



370 Presidential Addresses 

and regnlation over them in the interests of the 
pubHc. 

The State can properly deal with the corporations 
doing business within its own limits. The State 
can not deal at all with corporations doing business 
in many different States, and it is an absurdity at 
once ludicrous and harmful to leave it in the power 
of one State to create a corporation of gigantic size 
which shall do all its work in a number of other 
States, and perhaps with the scantiest regard for 
their laws. 

Personally, I believe that the Federal Government 
must take an increasing control over corporations. 
It is better that that control should increase by de- 
grees than that it should be assumed all at once. 
But there should be, and I trust will be, no halt in 
the steady progress of assuming such national con- 
trol. The first step toward it should be the adoption 
of a law conferring upon some executive body the 
power of increased supervision and regulation of 
the great corporations engaged primarily in inter- 
state commerce of the railroads. My views on that 
subject could not have been better expressed than 
they were expressed yesterday by Secretary Taft 
in Washington, and as they were expressed by the 
Attorney-General in his communication to the Sen- 
ate Committee a couple of weeks ago. I believe that 
the representatives of the Nation — that is, the repre- 
sentatives of all the people — should lodge in some 
executive body the power to establish a maximum 
rate, the power to have that rate go into effect prac- 



And State Papers 371 

tically immediately, and the power to see that the 
provisions of the law apply in full to companies own- 
ing private cars and private tracks, just as much as 
the railroads themselves. The courts will retain, 
and should retain, no matter what the Legislature 
does, the power to interfere and upset any action 
that is confiscatory in its nature. I am well aware 
that the action of such a body as I have spoken of 
may stop far short of confiscation, and yet do great 
damage. In other words, I am well aware that to 
give this power means the possibility that the power 
may be abused. That possibility we must face. Any 
power strong enough, any power which could be 
granted sufficiently great to be efficient, would be 
sufficiently great to be harmful if abused. That is 
true of the power of taxation. It is perfectly possi- 
ble for the body that has the power of taxation in- 
trusted to it to use it viciously and harmfully against 
certain interests or certain classes. Nevertheless, the 
power must exist. The power must be lodged in the 
representatives of the people. So it is with the power 
of which I speak. It must exist; it must be lodged 
in some body which is to give expression to the needs 
of the people as a whole. The fact that it is possi- 
ble that the power may be abused is not, and can not 
be, an argument against placing it where we shall 
have a right to expect that it will be used fairly to- 
ward all. 

One thing I wish definitely understood. If the 
power is granted me to create such a board, such a 
commission, or to continue in oower, if I so desire, 



372 Presidential Addresses 

a commission or board with increased powers, I shall 
strive to appoint and retain men who will do exactly 
the same justice to the railroads as they will exact 
from the railroads. False hopes are always raised 
by any measure of reform, because there are always 
people who expect the impossible. If the measure 
which I advocate is enacted into law, a good many 
people will expect that it will bring the millennium 
considerably nearer than will prove to be the case. 
The men whom I appoint to execute that law will 
be, so far as my ability to choose them exists, men 
who will no more be frightened by an even sincere 
popular clamor into doing an act of injustice to any 
great corporation than they will be frightened, on 
the other hand, into refraining from doing an act 
of justice because it is against the interests of some 
great corporation. In other words, I shall strive to 
see that that branch of the Government with its in- 
creased power is administered as every branch of the 
Government ought to be administered — that is, in a 
spirit of striving to do exact justice to the men of 
great means just as much as, and no more than, to 
the man of small means. 

Now for the other side of the question. There 
have been a great many republics before our time, 
and again and again these republics have split upon 
the rock of disaster. The greatest and most dan- 
gerous rock in the course of any republic is the rock 
of class hatred. Sometimes in the past the republic 
became a republic in which one class grew to domi- 
nate over another class, so that for loyalty to the re- 



And State Papers 373 

public was substituted loyalty to a class. The result 
was in such case inevitable. It meant disaster and 
ultimately the downfall of the republic, and it mat- 
tered not one whit which class became dominant ; it 
mattered not one whit whether the poor plundered the 
rich or the rich exploited the poor. In either case, 
just as soon as the republic became one in which one 
class substituted loyalty to that class for loyalty to 
the republic, the end of the republic was at hand. No 
true patriot will fail to do everything in his power to 
prevent the growth of any such spirit in this country. 
This Government is not and never shall be a 
government of a plutocracy. This Government is 
not, and never shall be, a Government of a mob. I 
believe in corporations. They are indispensable in- 
struments of our modem industrialism; but I be- 
lieve that they should be so supervised and regulated 
that they shall act for the interest of the community 
as a whole. So I believe in unions. I am proud of 
the fact that I am an honorary member of one union. 
But I believe that the union, "like the individual, must 
be held to a strict accountability to the power of the 
law. 

Mr. Mayor, as President of the United States, 
and therefore as representative of the people of this 
country, I give you, as a matter of course, my hearty 
support in upholding the law. in keeping order, in 
putting down violence, whether by a mob or by an 
individual. There need not be the slightest appre- 
hension in the heart of the most timid that ever the 
mob spirit will triumph in this country. Those im- 



374 Presidential Addresses 

mediately responsible for dealing with the trouble 
must, as I know you feel, exhaust every effort in so 
dealing with it before a call is made upon any out- 
side body. But if ever the need arises, back of the 
city stands the State, and back of the State stands 
the Nation. 

There, gentlemen, is a point upon which all good 
Americans are one. They are all one in the convic- 
tion, in the firm determination that this country shall 
remain in the future as it has been in the past, a 
country of liberty and justice expressed through the 
forms of law; a country in which the will of the 
people is supreme, but in which that will finds its 
expression as provided for in the Constitution of the 
United States, and of the several States that go to 
make up our Nation. 

REMARKS TO STRIKERS' COMMITTEE, CHI- 
CAGO, ILL., MAY 10, 1905 

Mr. Shea: 

We are here as a committee to present to you a 
statement stating our position in this controversy be- 
tween the Employers' Association and the Team- 
sters' Association. We have understood that they 
had asked your aid for bringing troops into Chicago. 
We want to present our position to you. Mr. Quinn 
has the memorial. 

Mr. Quinn: 

It will take about ten minutes to read this. Per- 
haps we had better leave it with you. 



And State Papers 375 

The President, after reading the memorial : 
Mr. Shea, Mr. Ouinn, and Gentlemen : 

I have read the petition you have presented to me, 
the conclusion of which is a request for a hearing 
before any action be taken by the Federal President, 
relating to the Chicago strike situation. As yet no 
suggestion of any kind has come to me from any 
source that I should take any action. Of the merits 
of the case I am wholly ignorant. I have no knowl- 
edge of what the situation is, or of what steps should 
properly be taken to end it. I feel, however, that 
in view of one statement, or series of statements, in 
your letter, I ought to say this: I regret that you 
should have in the letter spoken at all of the use 
of the Federal army as you have there spoken. No 
request has been made to me for action by the Fed- 
eral Government, but at the same time, Mr. Shea, 
as you have in this communication to me brought up 
that fact, I want to say one thing with all the em- 
phasis in my power. In upholding law and order, in 
doing what he is able to do to suppress mob violence 
in any shape or way, the Mayor of Chicago, Mayor 
Dunne, has my hearty support. I am glad to be able 
to say this to you gentlemen before I say it to any 
other body. Now let me repeat that I know nothing 
of the facts of the situation. I know nothing of the 
rights or wrongs of the points at issue. What I 
have to say is based purely upon what I regard as 
the unfortunate phrasing of a letter presented to the 
President of the United States. I have not been 



37& Presidential Addresses 

called upon to interfere in any way, but you must 
not misunderstand my attitude. In every effort of 
Mayor Dunne to prevent violence by mobs or indi- 
viduals, to see that the laws are obeyed and that 
order is preserved, he has the hearty support of the 
President of the United States, and in my judgment 
he should have that of every good citizen of the 
United States, 

Now, gentlemen, it has been a great pleasure to 
see you, and I am glad to have had the chance to say 
this to you. 

Mr. Quinn: 

Mr. President, what prompted us to come to you 
with this statement is that for the past two or three 
weeks there has been a continual howl for the Fed- 
eral army. I have known you long enough to know 
that you would not respond to a one-sided demand, 
that you will not respond until you have thoroughly 
investigated the case. 

The President: 

Mr. Quinn, as yet the Mayor has not made any 
appeal to the Governor, and therefore, of course, 
the Governor has made none to me ; and as yet noth- 
ing in the situation has demanded action by me. 

Mr. Shea: 

Let me explain that. The Governor has been re- 
quested by the committee of the employers to de- 
mand Federal troops. The statement has been made 
in the papers. I immediately telegraphed Governor 



And State Papers 377 

Deneen that we would allow him to appoint a com- 
mission. 

Regardless of that I want to make our position 
known to you in regard to mob violence. Every 
time a mob congregates, ever}^ act of violence per- 
formed by either a union man or a sympathizer, it 
reacts to our detriment. I believe that we are skilled 
workmen enough in our particular craft to demon- 
strate to our business men of Chicago that it is to 
their interest to employ us. There is nothing at 
stake but the re-employment of citizens of Chicago 
who have been forced out of their positions. Acts 
of violence meet with the condemnation of the offi- 
cials, both local and national, of our organization. 
It does not meet with the sympathies of our organi- 
zation. I simply want to say that we want to be fair, 
to preserve the business interests of Chicago, realizing 
that the prosperity of our employers is our prosperity. 

The President: 

Mr. Shea, I can only repeat what I have said. I 
am a believer in unions. I am an honorary member 
of one union. But the union must obey the law just 
as the corporation must obey the law, just as every 
man, rich or poor, must obey the law. As yet no 
action whatever has been called for by mje, and most 
certainly if action is called for by me I shall try to 
do exact justice under the law to every man, so far 
as I have power. But the first essential is the pres- 
ervation of law and order, the suppression of vio- 
lence by mobs or individuals. 



378 Presidential Addresses 



AT THE UNVEILING OF THE STATUE OF GEN- 
ERAL HENRY W. SLOCUM, BROOKLYN, 
N. Y., MAY 30, 1905 

Mr. Mayor, Mr. Commissioner , and you, my Fel- 
low Citizens, and, above all, you who took part in 
the great war in which the man whose statue is 
raised to-day won for himself and his country 
renown and honor: 

Day before yesterday I listened to a sermon in 
which the preacher, dwelling upon the exercises to 
be held throughout the Union to-day, preached on 
the text which tells of the altar raised by command 
of Moses to commemorate the victory gained by the 
children of Israel over the wild tribes of the desert 
who sought to bar their march toward the promised 
land. Amalek came out against Israel and they 
fought all day, while Aaron and Hur upheld the 
hands of Moses until as night fell the sun went 
down on Israel's triumph. Then they raised an 
altar to "Jehovah is my banner" ; to Jehovah, who 
stood as the exponent of the principle for which 
Israel warred. They raised it to the principle of 
righteousness, which alone can justify any war or 
any struggle. Mr. Mayor, that is the thought that 
you developed in the excellent address to which we 
have just listened; that we meet to-day to commem- 
orate a great victory, the triumph of the cause of 
union and liberty, not primarily because it was a 
mere victory, but because it was a victory for right- 



And State Papers 379 

eousness and for the peace and liberty and eternal 
spiritual welfare of mankind. 

I see before me here men who won high honor 
serving as comrades in arms of General Slocum, and 
I know that there exists in the Union no men who 
will appreciate more the fact that now, forty years 
after the war, the crowning triumph of what they 
did is to be found in the fact that we have a gen- 
uinely reunited country, a country in which the man 
who wore the blue stretches out the hand of loyal 
friendship to his erstwhile foe, his now devoted 
friend and fellow-countryman, the man who wore 
the gray. A short while ago I passed through the 
great State of Texas. Wherever I stopped in that 
great State I was greeted by representatives of the 
Grand Army marching side by side with or inter- 
mingled with men clad in the gray uniform that 
showed that they had fought in the armies of the 
Confederacy. They had tested one another's worth 
on the stricken fields, they knew each that the other 
had been ready when the hour of supreme appeal 
came to show his truth by his endeavors. Now 
these men, now you and those like you, now the 
men in blue and the men in gray, know that they 
leave to their children and their children's children 
as a heritage of honor forever the memory of the 
great deeds done alike by those who fought under 
Grant and by those who fought under Lee; for we, 
because of the very fact that the Union triumphed 
now have the right to feel a like pride in the valor 
and devotion of those who valiantly fought against 



380 Presidential Addresses 

the stars in their courses, no less than of those who 
finally saw their efforts and their sufferings crowned 
by triumph. 

Think of it, my fellow-countrymen! Think of 
what a thrice-blessed fortune is ours, that the great- 
est war that the nineteenth century saw after the 
close of the Napoleonic struggles has left, not as 
most wars inevitably do and must leave, memories 
of bitterness and anger and shame to offset the mem- 
ories of glory, memories which make the men of one 
side hang their heads because the men of the other 
side walk exultingly ; that it has left not such dread- 
ful memories, but instead to victor and vanquished 
alike, after the temporary soreness is over, the same 
right to feel the proudest satisfaction in the fact 
that the Union was saved, and the utmost pride in 
the honor, the gallantry, the devotion to the right 
as each side had given it the light to see the right, 
shown alike by those who warred under one banner 
and by those who warred under the other. 

I congratulate the people of Brooklyn, not pri* 
marily upon raising this statue, because that they 
ought to do, but upon the opportunity, upon the 
chance of having it to raise. I congratulate them 
upon the good fortune of having a fellow-citizen 
who in war and in peace alike served his people so 
well as to make it their duty, not so much to him as 
to themselves, to erect this statue that it might serve 
as a lesson for the generations to come. And, my 
fellow-citizens, I am sure we all realize the peculiar 
appropriateness of having the statue of General 



And State Papers 381 

Slocum received on behalf of the city of New York 
by its chief magistrate, whose father was General 
Slocum's illustrious commander. 

Surely there is need for me to say but little in 
emphasis of what has been set forth before I began 
to speak as to the prime significance of General 
Slocum's career. He was a fine soldier, a gallant 
and able commander. Once the war was over he 
turned as whole-heartedly to the pursuits of peace 
as he had during the war turned to the strife of 
arms. General Slocum was one of those men on 
whose career we are fortunately able to dwell in its 
entirety. We do not have to dwell with emphasis 
on part of it because we do not care to speak of 
another part of it. We are able to point to General 
Slocum as the type of what a decent American citi- 
zen should be, as a man who was an example in his 
family life, an example in his business relations, an 
honest and upright public servant, no less than a 
tried and fearless soldier. 

Now I want our people to remember the two 
sides of the lesson taught by General Slocum's life. A 
successful war for unrighteousness is the most dread- 
ful of all things ; it is the thing that sets back more 
than aught else the course of civilization. But no 
people worth preserving ever existed or will exist 
that was not able to fight well if the need arose. So 
it is with the individual. The man who possesses 
great ability and great courage unaccompanied by 
the moral sense, a courage and ability unguided by 
the stern purpose to do what is just and upright, 



382 Presidential Addresses 

that man is rendered by the very fact of his courage 
and abiHty only so much the greater menace to the 
community in which he unfortunately dwells. We 
can not afford as a people ever to forget for one 
moment that ability, farsightedness, iron resolution, 
perseverance, willingness to do and dare, are quali- 
ties to be admired only if they are put at the service 
of the right, at the service of decency and of jus- 
tice. The man who possesses those qualities and 
does not shape his course by a fundamental and 
underlying moral principle is a menace to each and 
all of us; and thrice foolish, thrice wicked is the 
other man who condones his moral shortcomings be- 
cause of his intellectual or physical strength and 
prowess. 

But it is equally important to remember that no 
amount of good intention, no amount of sweetness 
and light, no amount of appreciation of decency 
avails in the least in the rough work of the world as 
we find it, unless back of the honesty of purpose, 
back of the decency of life and thought, lies the 
power that makes a man a man. This is true of the 
individual and it is true of the Nation. It is abso- 
lutely essential that this Nation, if it is to hold the 
position in the future that it has held in the past, 
must act not only within but without its own bor- 
ders in a spirit of justice and of large generosity 
toward all other peoples. We owe this as an obli- 
gation to ourselves, we owe it as an obligation to 
all mankind. More and more as we increase in 
strength I hope to see a corresponding increase in 



And State Papers 383 

the sober sense of responsibility which shall prevent 
us either injuring or insulting any other people. 
You may notice that I said "insulting" as well as 
"injuring." If there is one quality sometimes shown 
among us which is not commendable it is the habit 
of speaking loosely about foreign powers, foreign 
races. You do not need any of you to be told that 
in private life you will often resent an insult quite 
as much as an injury; and our public speakers and 
writers need to steadily keep before their minds the 
thought that no possible good can come to us by 
speaking offensively of any one else; while trouble 
may come. 

It has been well said that the surest way for a 
nation to invite disaster is to be opulent, aggressive, 
and unarmed. Now, we are opulent, and I hope we 
shall remain so. I trust that we shall never be ag- 
gressive unless aggression is not merely justified, 
but demanded; demanded either by our own self- 
respect or by the interests of mankind. But above 
all, let us remember that to be aggressive in speech 
or act, and not to be armed, invites not merely dis- 
aster, but the contempt of mankind. 

Brooklyn not only furnished valiant soldiers to 
the Civil War, but it furnished in time of peace a 
most excellent Secretary of the Navy of the United 
States, General Tracy. If our navy is good enough, \ 
we have a long career of peace before us. The only 
likelihood of trouble ever coming to us as a nation 
will arise if we let our navy become too small or 
inefficient. A first-class navy — first-class in point 



384 Presidential Addresses 

of size, above all first-class in point of efficiency of 
\ the individual units acting as units and in combina- 

tion — is the surest and the cheapest guarantee of 
1 peace. I should think that any man looking at what 

i is happening and what has happened abroad and in 

1 our own history during the past few years, must be 

\ indeed blind if he can not read that lesson clearly. 

\ General Slocum did his first great public service 

^"""''"^when the crisis called not primarily for the softer 
and milder, but for the sterner and harder virtues; 
and we can not afford in this day of material lux- 
ury, in this day when civilization tends to make life 
easy, to ignore those hard and stern virtues. In the 
workaday world as it is, not only in war, but in pri- 
vate life and in public life alike, a man has to have 
toughness of fibre or he can not put into effect even 
the best of intentions. We can not afford to let the 
generation that is coming grow up with the feeling 
that any quality will serve as a substitute for the old, 
essential qualities of manliness in a man and wo- 
manliness in a woman. 

Much, very much, has been done in this country 
by education. No one can overstate the debt that 
this country is under to the educators ; but in taking 
advantage of all the improved methods let us not 
forget that there are certain qualities which are not 
new, which are eternal because they are eternally 
true, the failure to de^'elop which will cause a loss 
that can not be offset by any merely intellectual or 
mental gain. A sound body is a first-class thing, a 
sound mind is an even better thing, but the thing 



And State Papers 385 

that counts for most iii the individual as in the 
Nation is character — the sum of those quaHties 
which make a man a good man and a woman a good 
woman. You men of the Civil War, you men to 
whom this country owes more than to any others, no 
matter how great the service of those others may 
be (because to you this country owes its life), you 
won the place you did, you won for this countiy its 
salvation, because you had in you those qualities 
which in the aggregate we know by the name of 
character, the qualities which made you put mate- 
rial gain, material well-being, not merely below, but 
immeasurably below devotion to an ideal, when the 
crisis called for showing your manhood. 

You went to the war leaving those behind who 
would make more money, but carrying with you in 
your hearts the honor and the future of a mighty 
Nation. You had, in the first place, the right spirit, 
and then you had the quality of making that spirit 
evident in the time of need. If you had not had 
patriotism, devotion to the country and to the flag, 
you could have done nothing. But you could not 
have done much more if your patriotism, your de- 
votion to the flag, had not been backed up by the 
power to show that your metal rang true in battle. 

You showed in times that tried men's souls what 
this country has a right to expect from its sons. 
You had the supreme good fortune to test your man- 
hood in one of the two great crises of the Nation's 
history, the great crisis in which the Nation was 
born in the days of 1776, and the no less great crisis 

2— Vol. XVI 



386 Presidential Addresses 

in which the Nation was saved by the men of 1861. 
You have left us not merely a reunited country, but 
you have left us the glorious heritage of the memory 
of the exploits, of the qualities by which the country 
was left reunited. 

Our days have fallen, for our good fortune, in 
times of peace. We have not had to show the 
qualities that you showed in the dark years that 
closed in the sunburst of Appomattox ; but if we are 
to leave undimmed to our children the heritage that 
you left to us, we must show in peace, and, should 
the need ever arise, in war also, the qualities that 
you showed ; the qualities that make it now the pleas- 
antest of all tasks for a public servant who appre- 
ciates the greatness of America to come on an 
occasion like this and see the people of a great city 
dedicate a monument in honor of a great citizen, 
who, at every point of his career, illustrated what 
the name American should be when it is used in its 
highest, its deepest, and its best significance. 

AT THE NAVAL BRANCH, Y. M. C. A., BROOK- 
LYN, N. Y., MAY 30, 1905 

Officers and Enlisted Men of the United States 
Navy; and you, Friends of the Navy, for if you 
are good Americans, yoii can be nothing else: 

I made up my mind to-day that, although there 
were very many invitations extended to me in addi- 
tion to that because of which I first agreed to come 
here, there was just one which I could not refuse, 



And State Papers 387 

and that was to come to this building and meet you 
here. I do not have to tell you that I believe in the 
navy of the United States with all my heart, and 
that I believe in that which counts most in the navy, 
the officers and enlisted men, the man behind the 
gun ; the man in the conning tower, in the gun tur- 
ret, in the engine room, the man, wherever he is, if 
he is doing his duty. 

We owe a peculiar debt of gratitude to those who 
have taken the lead in securing this building. The 
people of the United States should make it their 
especial duty to see to the welfare, moral even more 
than physical, of the men upon whose exertions, 
upon whose skill, training, and prowess, upon whose 
character in time of crisis the honor of the entire 
Nation will depend. All respect is due to those who, 
led by Miss Gould, have erected this building, who 
have given expression to the spirit which lies behind 
the building up of everything of this nature. It 
shows that we are fortunately past the period when 
we are afraid that if we make- a man too decent he 
will not fight well enough. 

I have had a good deal of experience in civil life, 
and I have never yet found any job in civil life to 
which, other things being equal, I did not prefer 
to appoint a man who had seen service in the navy 
or army of the United States; because he has 
learned, if he is worth his salt, certain qualities 
which double and treble his value in whatever posi- 
tion he may be put. Therefore, not only for his 
sake do we owe it to him to see that he has every 



388 Presidential Addresses 

chance to lead a wholesome and manly life, but we 
owe it to ourselves, we owe it to the Nation of which 
we are all part, to see that that man's capacities for 
good are given the fullest chance for development. 
And much though I believe in the Y. M. C. A., and 
in kindred organizations generally, I believe in them 
most when they take such shape as this. 

Now, a special word to you upon whom so heavy 
a responsibility rests; because it depends upon the 
way you do your duty in peace as to whether or 
not, should ever the need for war arise, our flag 
will receive credit or discredit at your hands, or at 
the hands of your successors. I can not too often 
say, in speaking to civilians, what every naval man 
knows, that in battle those win who have prepared 
best for the battle beforehand. I have seen to-day 
men who fought at Manila and men who fought off 
Santiago. In both places we won, and we won 
hands down. We won because the shots that hit 
were those that counted; because the men on our 
ships knew how to handle them alone and in squad- 
ron, knew how to get the best speed out of them, and 
how to do decent shooting with them. I want you 
to notice I said decent shooting. I did not say it 
was first-class. I think most of you are doing first- 
class shooting now; and I would be mightily 
ashamed of you if you did not do better than was 
done seven years ago; and I shall be ashamed of 
you if you don't do even better in the future 

Nothing has given Americans a better right to 
satisfaction than the way in which the target prac- 



And State Papers 389 

tice of the average American ship has improved, 
until I think we can fairly say that there are certain 
gun crews and certain individual gun pointers who 
have reached as high a degree of excellence as it is 
possible for any man to reach. The gun crew counts 
for more than its individual pointer. You might have 
all the individual shots you could gather, and they 
would not be worth a rap if they could not act to- 
gether, if they did not act so as to subordinate in the 
mind of each man the success of that particular man 
to the success for which they all stood. 

More and more our people are waking up to 
the need of a navy. I think in view of events 
now happening all over the world that we can 
count upon having Congress continue to build 
up our navy. It is all-important that we should 
have ships, the best in hull, the best in armor, the 
best in armament, of any nation in the world. 
But there is something that is more important 
still, and that is the character of you men to 
whom I am speaking here, and of your comrades 
in the navy. You can do nothing without the 
proper training, but the training will not do very 
much if there is not the right stuff in you to train. 
I wish a big navy ; but I wish still more a navy first 
class for its size. Every warship which is not first 
class in efficiency becomes in battle not a help to the 
Nation, but a menace to the national honor. If the 
officers and enlisted men are not trained to the high- 
est point, then the best ships are useless; and it is 
better to have none than to have useless ships. 



390 Presidential Addresses 

I believe in the navy of the United States, pri- 
marily because I believe in the intelligence, the 
patriotism, and the fighting edge of the average man 
of the navy. Often it needs a tragedy to bring out 
the qualities that are in a man. You remember the 
dreadful accident aboard the battleship "Missouri" 
a year ago. Lamentable and terrible though it was, 
there were things connected with it that should make 
every American feel a sense of proud confidence in 
the officers and enlisted men in whom Uncle Sam 
confides his honor. When that accident occurred in 
the turret there were some twenty minutes when 
every man of that ship knew that any moment the 
ship might sink. But there was not a touch of ner- 
vousness among the crew. The men went quietly 
to their quarters and stayed there and waited, cool 
and resolute, to meet whatever was in store for 
them; while those whose duty had put them in the 
turret, or called them thither, showed genuine hero- 
ism. Each man showed the quality which makes us 
reasonably confident that in war the men at the quick- 
fire guns can hit a torpedo boat; and which makes 
me reasonably confident that the greater the punish- 
ment suffered on the ship, the straighter you would 
shoot back. In other words, I believe you have the 
coolness, the courage, the endurance, the fighting 
edge. When the accident occurred on the "Mis- 
souri" it was the turn of the "Texas" to go out to 
target practice. The "Texas" sent her boats over 
to find out if the "Missouri" needed help, and found 
that she did not; then she steamed out to target 



And State Papers 391 

practice and made the best record at target practice 
that had been made by any ship in our fleet at that 
time. The men aboard her were not rattled; what 
had happened merely keyed them to a higher pitch 
of effort. 

I feel that too much can not be said to impress 
upon you the all-importance of the work that you 
are doing. Even if you yourselves never go into 
battle, you create the spirit which makes those who 
come after you on the ships able to do their duty 
in battle. The time of peace is the time when we 
must make ready for war, should war come. I do 
not think we will have any war if we have a good 
enough navy; and I could appeal to any peace so- 
ciety in the land for support upon the ground that 
every first-class record of target practice in the 
American navy is a positive provocative of peace and 
not of war. I am speaking to the men who, more 
than any others in this country, do most for peace. 
You are doing it and you will continue to do it only 
by fitting yourselves in every way to be ready for 
war, if war should come. 



AT THE GRADUATING EXERCISES OF THE 
COLLEGIATE DEPARTMENT OF CLARK UNI- 
VERSITY, WORCESTER, MASS., JUNE 21, 1905 

While it is incumbent upon every citizen of this 
country to do the best that is in him. not only for his 
own sake, and the sake of those immediately con- 
nected with him, but for the sake of the people as 



392 Presidential Addresses 

a whole, it is especially incumbent upon the gradu- 
ates of such an institution of learning as this. Every 
man that graduates here has received something, 
and something big, for which he has made no re- 
turn, and for which he can never make any return 
to the men giving it. It is given in part by those 
who are dead and in part by those who are living, 
but who can not ever receive any reward for that 
they have themselves done. You graduates can not 
pay back directly to the founder, to the trustees, to 
the president, to the professors, what they have done 
in money and effort for you. There is just one way 
and only one way in which you can give back to the 
college, to the university, what you have received 
from the college, from the university, and that is by 
so leading your lives in point of purpose and in 
point of efficiency as to reflect honor upon those who 
did so much for you, to show that they were right in 
doing what they did, and that their effort was not 
wasted when they gave you this great chance. 
Every college man owes a debt of gratitude to his 
college, which he can pay in but one way, and that 
is by the way in which through his life he makes that 
college stand in the estimation of the public. 

It is true of the Nation, as of the individual, that 
the greatest doer must also be a great dreamer. Of 
course, if the dream is not followed by action, then 
it is a bubble; it has merely served to divert the 
man from doing something. But great action, ac- 
tion that is really great, can not take place if the 
man has it not in his brain to think great thoughts, 



And State Papers ^93 

to dream great dreams. As has been so well pointed 
out to-day, the marvelous rise of Germany in the 
world of industry and of commerce, no less than 
of art and of letters, has been due to the fact that 
the German is trained to have high ideals, and yet 
to treat these ideals in practical fashion. I was 
immensely struck, as I think all of us must have been 
struck, by the way in which, a few weeks ago, our 
fellow-citizens of German birth or descent took part 
m commemorating the life and writings of Schiller. 
I feel strongly, as the president of Amherst has 
phrased it, that here in this country, where we are 
amalgamating into one people many different peo- 
ples of many different tongues, one of the great 
works to which we should devote our attention is 
trying to keep what each of these peoples can give 
of value to our composite national life. Each race 
that comes here, each element, can contribute some- 
thmg of value, can usually contribute very much 
of value; and it would be a good thing for all of 
our people if we should shape our development so 
that it would seem as natural to us as it does to the 
people of Germany to recognize the incalculable 
debt of a nation to a writer like Schiller, to a man 
who has done work for the public, for the nation, 
for all mankind, upon which no price can be put! 
From Germany this country has learned much. 
Germany has contributed a great element to the 
blood of our people, and it has given the most 
marked trend ever given to our scholastic and uni- 
versity system, to the whole system of training stu- 



394 Presidential Addresses 

dents and scholars. In taking what we should from 
Germany, from this great kindred nation, I wish 
that we could take especially the idealism which ren- 
ders it natural to them to celebrate such an event as 
Schiller's life and writings ; and also the keen, prac- 
tical common-sense which enables them to turn their 
idealistic spirit into an instrument for producing the 
most perfect military and industrial organizations 
that this world has ever seen. 

Mr. Mabie has said that character counts most; 
of course it counts most. I believe in a sound body, 
I believe in a sound mind. I believe in character a 
great deal more than in either ; and I believe in both 
the body and the mind chiefly as the foundation for 
the character. I remember when I was Governor, 
and had some correspondence with President Hall, 
I found to my great pleasure that he took the views 
that I did on the subject of boxing, he feeling as 
strongly as I felt that we did not want to produce in 
institutions of learning a race of nice, clever, well- 
bred young men, who can not hold their own in the 
rough work of the world. I do not give a snap of 
my finger for the young fellow who is afraid of being 
hurt physically, or in any other way ; he is not going 
to amount to anything in after life. Each of you 
as you lead your lives will be hurt a good deal; if 
you have any pluck in you at all you will face the 
punishment, take it, and win out in spite of it. I 
want to see the physical development, more because 
of its moral side than for any other reason. I want 
to see the intellect developed only in so far as it 



And State Papers ^95 

is controlled by conscience, by a sense of right and 
wrong. The better educated a man is the more dan- 
gerous he is if he has no conscience. In these uni- 
versities the benefit comes from th'e education of a 
man's character as well as of his intellect. 

I hope most earnestly for the day when we shall 
see peace prevail among the nations of mankind; 
and peace, industrial as well as military, prevail 
within the nations themselves. No man in public 
position can, under penalty of forfeiting the right 
to the respect of those whose regard he most values, 
fail as the opportunity comes to do all that in him 
lies for peace. But peace of a valuable type comes 
not to the man who craves it because he is afraid, 
but to the man who demands it because it is right. 
The peace granted contemptuously to the weakling 
and the coward is but a poor boon after it has been 
granted. 

We must keep our minds upon the essentials and 
not upon the non-essentials. In 1861 there were 
people who cried peace, peace, who said that any 
peace, no matter how shameful, was preferable to 
the worst of all wars— a fratricidal war; and if 
those people had had their way we should now be 
hanging our heads in shame. We should now be 
feeling that the country founded by Washington, 
the country that at that time was perpetuated by 
Lincoln, had gone down in the wreck of irretriev- 
able disaster. We got peace then, peace forever, as 
I believe, in this country, because there were a suffi- 
cient number of men who felt as President Wright 



396 Presidential Addresses 

felt and went to the war to fight for permanent 
peace. I have scant patience with the brawler, the 
quarreler, the swashbuckler, and I have a little less 
for the anaemic person, either of body or soul, who 
believes that a nation any more than an individual 
can afford to put peace before justice. Put justice 
first; it will generally lead to peace; but follow it 
wherever it leads. 

In closing, let me say just one more thing. The 
same homely virtues apply in managing the life of 
a nation as in managing an individual's life. All 
the statesman needs to do is to exercise common- 
sense and stick as close to the Decalogue and the 
Golden Rule as imperfect human nature will permit. 
In other words, he needs to carry himself in public 
life as he would in private life, and never permit the 
mistake being made of divorcing public from private 
morality any more than of divorcing domestic 
from business morality. The man is a poor citi- 
zen, no matter how high he stands in the church, 
whose allegiance to the teachings of the church is 
limited to his home and to Sunday, and is not car- 
ried into his work or his business. The man is a 
poor citizen who does not do his best to see that the 
affairs of his country, both as regards the country's 
attitude to other nations, and as regards the coun- 
try's dealings with matters vital to its own citizens 
within its limits, are managed along the same lines 
— the old simple lines of honesty, courage, and 
common-sense. 



And State Papers 397 



AT HOLY CROSS COLLEGE, WORCESTER, MASS., 

JUNE 21, 1905 

Father, Bishop, Alumni of Holy Cross, and 

you. My Fellozv-Citizens, men and zvomen of 

Worcester, of Massachusetts: 

It is a pleasure to me to be the guest of Holy 
Cross. It is eminently characteristic of your State, 
and of all our Nation, that we should have institu- 
tions of learning like this, in which the effort is 
constant to train not merely the body and the mind, 
but the soul of the man, so that he may be a good 
American, a good citizen of our great country. 

In this country of ours we are developing a new 
type of nationality, a type kin to each of the various 
Old World races from which it in part springs, and 
yet separate from all. Each stock that comes here 
can furnish something of permanent value to the 
country as a whole; and from each stock we have 
the right to expect the furnishing of that element. 
Here in Holy Cross College I want to say one word 
spoken I trust to ears willing to hear it. During 
the last three years I have happened, by chance, to 
grow peculiarly interested in ttie great subject of 
Celtic literature, and I feel that it is not a creditable 
thing to the American Republic, which has in its 
citizenship so large a Celtic element, that we should 
leave it to the German scholars and students to be 
our instructors in Celtic literature. I want to see in 
Holy Cross, in Harvard, in all the other universities 
where we can get the chairs endowed, chairs for the 



398 Presidential Addresses 

study of Celtic literature. A century and over ago 
the civilized world, which had been looking down 
upon old Norse poetry as the production of a bar- 
barous race, suddenly awoke to the wealth of beauty 
contained in the Scandinavian sagas. If I am not 
greatly in error we are now about to see a similar 
awakening to the wealth of beauty contained in the 
Celtic sagas ; and I wish to see American institutions 
of learning take the lead in that awakening. 

AT WILLIAMS COLLEGE, WILLIAM STOWN, 
MASS., JUNE 22, 1905 

Mr. President, and you of Williams: 

It is a high honor that I have receiv -d at your 
hands, and I deeply appreciate it. I appreciate it 
particularly because it is my good fortune to find on 
the platform with me so many men to whom I am 
knit by the bonds of personal friendship and of work 
for a -common end. I have listened with real pleas- 
ure to the three discourses to-day; and of course 
the first was in my line of business. 

Before speaking of what I had intended to say 
here to-day, I want to say a word just suggested 
by that address on "idealism in politics." I wish 
to see every graduate of this college, and every 
graduate of every other college in the land, feel (and 
I thank the speaker for the way he emphasized it) 
the need of ideals in business and in law, quite as 
much as in politics. I wish to see every graduate 
do all that in him lies to uphold a standard of prac- 



And State Papers 399 

tical idealism in after life. I was struck and amused 
by the sentence in which the speaker said that at 
present if you spoke of ideals, you met with the 
answer, "Oh, yes, that is very pretty in theory, but 
it won't work in Troy!" There are two sides to 
that. In the first place, it is a bad thing for Troy 
if Troy will not stand idealism; and in the next 
place it is a poor type of ideal that is of no use in 
Troy. I want you to remember the last just as much 
as the first. I want you to have high ideals, but 
practical ideals. I do not want you ever to get into 
a frame of mind which we see pretty often in the 
world at large, which believes that you can only 
have either high or fantastic ideals, or else low and 
practical ones. If you have to choose, of course I 
would a great deal rather see you choose high and 
fantastic ideals than low and practical ones, because 
the last are a detriment to the Nation at large, while 
the first are merely of no earthly consequence. If 
you have to choose between being noxious and being 
merely harmless, of course, choose to be harmless. 
But do not expect very great gratitude from any 
person interested in the country if you choose 
merely to be harmless. If you choose to have high 
ideals so fantastic that they are of no use when 
you try to apply them in practical life, do not for 
one moment delude yourself into the belief that to 
have these fantastic ideals shows that you are more 
virtuous than the man who has not got them. It 
merely shows that you are more foolish. Have a 
high ideal and try to realize it, measurably, within 



400 Presidential Addresses 

your powers, as, immeasurably and with tremendous 
power, Abraham Lincohi and George Washington 
strove to reaHze their ideals. Have high ideals, and 
then try to realize them in practical shape. I do 
not want to see you go out of this institution of 
learning with an ideal impossible to put into effect, 
because I am afraid if you leave it with such an 
ideal and find that this ideal does not work, then 
instead of realizing that the fault lies in you for 
having chosen that kind of an ideal, you will think 
it lies with idealism itself, and will abandon ideal- 
ism. What I desire to see you feel is that you must 
have a high ideal ; that you must also apply that ideal 
in practice ; and above all things to avoid the state of 
mind in which you preach an impossible idealism, 
and make amends for it by not practicing any ideal- 
ism at all. 

It is perfectly true that you want to avoid im- 
proper compromises, but you will not get any other, 
if you are not able to compromise in non-essential 
matters. I do not suppose there is one of these 
men on this platform — Mr. Root, Mr. Choate, Sen- 
ator Crane^ — who has not disagreed with me on some 
pretty important points, ranging from the navy to 
corporations. But we have been able to come to a 
working agreement. We have been able to estab- 
lish a basis for common action, not by surrendering 
on matters of principle, but by agreeing each to sub- 
ordinate his views on certain points, so that we 
could secure the efBciency of action that can only 
come from united effort. I want you to feel that to 



And State Papers 401 

accomplish anything- in after life, you men who are 
just going out into the great world, you must keep 
ever before your minds both the desire to work for 
betterment, and the power to work in combination 
with your fellows (who will not on all points agree 
with you) practically to achieve that betterment. 

In striving to solve the immediate governmental 
problems that are before us, we have a right to ex- 
pect leadership from the men who come out of Wil- 
liams, who come out of the other colleges and uni- 
versities of the land ; we have a right to expect that 
leadership to be shown with practical efficiency, in 
seeing that this Nation does its duty abroad and at 
home. I wish to see this Nation not merely talk 
for peace and righteousness, but act for peace and 
righteousness; but I wish to see this Nation stand 
for righteousness first and then for peace. I wish 
to see the Nation stand for the peace of justice, for 
the righteousness in the attainment of which peace 
is normally a potent instrument, but for which we 
must stand, whether peace comes or not. In 1861, 
there were men who cried peace, peace, when there 
was no peace; and we have peace now combined 
with righteousness, and have secured it, as I be- 
lieve, for ages to come on this continent, because 
men then dared to draw the sword for righteousness. 
We have no such terrible crisis as that of 1861 fac- 
ing us now. On the contrar}'-, we have a series of 
rather humdrum little crises which it is sometimes 
exasperating to ha\e to face, but which we must. 

The particular small crisis of which I am think- 



40i Presidential Addresses 

ing is that in Santo Domingo last year. I had done 
everything that in me lay to prevent that crisis 
coming. All I asked, on behalf of the people of the 
United States, of Santo Domingo was that it should 
be good and happy. Without entering into the 
ethical question, I shall merely say that it was not 
happy. Finally affairs grew into such shape down 
there that it was evident that the bonds of society 
were on the point of dissolution; and the Govern- 
ment of Santo Domingo made an earnest appeal to 
the Government of the United States and asked that 
this Nation, out of the abundance of its strength, 
should strive to help a weaker brother. Now do not 
forget that that was the appeal, and that it was be- 
cause of this appeal that we took action. There 
were of course two motives that influenced us. One 
was the desire to help the people of Santo Domingo 
for their own sakes, and the other, and a legitimate 
one, was to try to fend off the possibility of trouble 
coming to Santo Domingo, which might bring the 
United States itself into trouble. The debts of 
Santo Domingo were so great and the impossibility 
of paying all those debts so patent that there was 
a threat of imminent interference by foreign nations 
to collect the debts due their own citizens. And as 
the only way of guaranteeing the collection of those 
debts was to seize the custom houses, it inevitably 
meant the seizure nominally, temporarily, of a certain 
amount of Santo Domingo territory, which would 
almost inevitably produce a conflict between us and 
those foreign governments. So, in the interest of 



And State Papers 403 

the peace of the world, and in the interest of justice 
to Santo Domingo, we yielded to Santo Domingo's 
request and have started to try to help her so to 
carry on her finances that she may be able to pay all 
that she can of what she justly owes. In taking that 
action the Government has proceeded upon the the- 
ory that you can not formulate a right, individual or 
national, without impliedly formulating a respon- 
sibility and obligation to go with that right. 

We say that in our own interest and in the interest 
of the peoples of the Western Hemisphere we ad- 
here to the Monroe Doctrine. With the promulga- 
tion of that doctrine must go the responsibility that 
ought by right to accompany it. We can not say 
that other peoples shall not do what ought to be 
done, unless we do it ourselves. People answer that 
trouble and bother will come if we do it. If this 
Nation refuses to do its duty because it thinks the 
duty will necessitate encountering some trouble, 
some bother, then let this Nation cease to claim to 
be great. I demand that the Nation do its duty, and 
accept the responsibility that must go with greatness. 
I ask that the Nation dare to be great, and that in 
daring to be great it show that it knows how to do 
justice to the weak no less than to exact justice from 
the strong. In order to take such a position of being 
a great Nation, the one thing that we must not do 
is to bluff. It is perhaps defensible, although I 
think improper, to say that we will not try to be a 
big Nation, will not try to play the part of a big 
Nation or act as such in the world. But the unpar- 



404 Presi,dential Addresses 

donable thing is to say we will act as a big Nation 
and then decline to take the necessary steps to make 
the words good. Therefore, gentlemen, see to it 
that the navy is built up, and kept at the highest 
point of efficiency. I ask that, not in the interest of 
war, but as a guarantee of peace. I believe in the 
Monroe Doctrine; I believe in the building and 
maintaining as an open highway for the nations of 
mankind the Panama Canal. But I had a great deal 
rather see this country abandon the Monroe Doc- 
trine and give up all thought of building the Pan- 
ama Canal than to see it attempt to maintain the 
one and construct the other while refusing to pro- 
vide the means which can alone render our attitude 
as a Nation worthy of the respect of the other na- 
tions of mankind. Keep on building and maintain- 
ing at the highest point of efficiency the United 
States navy, or quit trying to be a big Nation. Do 
one or the other. 

Now for our internal affairs. I am particu- 
larly glad to speak to an audience like this, because 
I do not know that I shall have the unqualified assent 
of everybody here. If I address an audience merely 
of men of very small means or wage-workers, then 
what I want to tell them, as the most important 
thing for them to learn, is to avoid an attitude of 
rancorous envy or hostility toward men of wealth, 
and above all to remember that the well-being of 
our social structure rests upon obedience to the law, 
upon the immediate suppression of mob violence, 
mob rule, in any form. There can be and must be 



And State Papers 405 

no paltering with any manifestation of that spirit. 
Any attempt to override the law by action of indi- 
viduals or by the action of mobs, whether the at- 
tempt comes in connection with labor difficulties or 
in any other way, must in the interest of the Nation 
be met fearlessly at the earliest opportunity, and 
the lawlessness put down. 

On the other side, just as we must never allow this 
Government to be changed into government by a 
mob, so we must never allow it to be changed into 
government by a plutocracy. The growth of our 
modern industrialism has resulted in an altogether 
disproportionate reward to the man who goes into 
money-making as his only career. Two evil results 
follow. One is the result to himself, for, unless he is 
a man of very strong character, there almost inev- 
itably comes a certain arrogance, or at least a cer- 
tain carelessness toward the rights of others. The 
other result is to breed in the minds of poor people 
an attitude of sullen envy toward men ol wealth, 
which is infinitely more damaging to the people who 
hold it than any action of the man of wealth could be. 

There must be a closer supervision by the Gov- 
ernment of great industrial combinations, for of 
course wealth at present finds its expression through 
these great industrial combinations. I think it has 
been a mistake to act on the theory which has shaped 
most of our legislation, National and State, for the 
last thirty years, that it is possible to turn back the 
hands of the clock, to forbid combinations and to 
restore business to conditions which have absolutely 



4o6 Presidential Addresses 

passed away. That can not be done. What we can 
do is to exercise an efficient supervision over the 
combinations, so as to see as far as possible that they 
are used in the interest of and not against the inter- 
est of the general pubHc. I do not believe that such 
supervision can come effectively through the State, 
nor that it can effectively come through the munic- 
ipality. Ultimately in the great majority of cases 
to be effective it must be exercised by the National 
Government. I trust that in the end means will be 
found by which the exercise of such control over all 
the great industrial corporations which are really 
engaged in and doing an interstate business will be 
lodged in the hands of the National Government. 
As the first step to that I hope to see the passage of 
legislation which will give as an executive, not as a 
judicial function, to the National Government the 
supervision of the railroads of the United States 
which are engaged in interstate commerce, with the 
power, when a rate is complained of as improper and 
unjust, to examine that rate, and if the rate should be 
changed to change it to a given rate, and to have 
that given rate take practically immediate effect. 
Now, I am perfectly well aware that there are objec- 
tions to the proposed change, but in my judgment 
they are far outweighed by the objections attendant 
upon not making the change. The fear expressed 
by excellent people, who no doubt feel it genuinely, 
that we could not get a commission who would fix 
all the rates of the railroads of the country, is to 
my mind much as if they should express fear that 



And State Papers 407 

you could not get Supreme Court Justices who 
would be able to fix all the laws. I expect that the 
commission will be able to pass upon a given rate 
brought before it, just as the Supreme Court passes 
upon a given question of law brought before it ; and 
one will prove to be as feasible as the other has 
proved feasible. That system should be, and in my 
judgment will be introduced. I believe it will work 
a measurable betterment for the public. Listen to 
what I say — a measurable betterment for the pub- 
lic. I do not believe that it will produce the millen- 
nium, or anything approaching it; and I am quite 
certain that some of its most ardent advocates will 
be disappointed with the results. But I think meas- 
urable good will come. It can only come if the ofH- 
cers intrusted with the administration of the law 
remember that it is exactly as much their duty to pro- 
tect the railroad from the public as to protect the 
public from the railroad ; to remember that when we 
say we want justice from the railroad we must, if we 
are honest, add also a pledge to do justice to the 
railroad. 

AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY, JUNE 28, 1905 
The Harvard Spirit 

Bishop Lawrence, Brothers, Men of Harvard: 

We have just heard from a Harvard man speak- 
ing in behalf of the class of '55. I now speak to you 
in behalf of the class of '80. Mr. Choate, you can 
afford to be generous. A man whose life has been 



4o8 Presidential Addresses 

passed in public service such as yours can freely 
praise those who come after him. I speak in be- 
half of the younger men here present when I say 
that we shall count ourselves more than happy if in 
the future we can approach the service of the men 
of Harvard in the past. I trust that if any great 
crisis come again — may Heaven forbid its coming — 
if ever a great crisis like that of '6i should come, 
may the men of that day who have been brought up 
in Harvard rise level to it as you of the years from 
'55 onward rose level to meet the crisis of your day. 
We heard from Mr. Agassiz what the class of his 
day did, how many of them went into the Union 
Army, how some of them went into the gallant Con- 
federate Army, one of the members of which, the 
great justice from Louisiana, Mr. Justice White, 
has to-day become an adopted son of Harvard. In 
Kentucky, a number of years ago, I had a good 
friend, a man much older than I was, Colonel John 
Mason Brown. He came back from a trip to the 
Rocky Mountains just after Sumter had been fired 
on. His mother brought him the sword that his 
father had worn with honor in the Mexican War, 
and said to him, *'My son, war has come, and you 
must draw this sword; I hope you will draw it for 
the flag under which your father fought ; but draw it 
for one side or the other you must." We Americans 
of to-day have the right to feel the same pride in 
the valor, the devotion, the fealty to the right as it 
was given them to see the right, of those who wore 
the gray no less than of those who wore the blue. 



And State Papers 409 

In Bishop Lawrence's introduction — an introduc- 
tion which touched me deeply, not only because of 
the words used, but because of the high value which 
I put upon the friendship of the man using them — 
he spoke of the effort that I am making for peace 
throughout the world. Of course I am for peace. 
Of course every President who is fit to be President 
must be for peace. But I am for one thing before 
peace; I am for righteousness first, and then peace. 
I am for peace, because normally peace is the best 
instrument wherewith to obtain righteousness. But, 
Mr. Agassiz, when you and those like you faced 
1 861, you had to win peace by war, and you ren- 
dered us forever your debtors, because when the 
choice was between what was peaceful and what was 
right you chose what was right. 

A great university like this has two especial func- 
tions*. The first is to produce a small number of 
scholars of the highest rank, a small number of men 
who, in science and literature, or in art, will do pro- 
ductive work of the first class. The second is to 
send out into the world a very large number of men 
who never could achieve, and who ought not to try 
to achieve, such a position in the field of scholarship, 
but whose energies are to be felt in every other form 
of activity; and who should go out from our doors 
with the balanced development of body, of mind, and 
above all of character, which shall fit them to do 
work both honorable and efficient. 

Much of the effort to accomplish the first func- 
tion, that of developing men capable of productive 
3—\'0L. XVI 



4IO Presidential Addresses 

scholarship, as distinguished from merely imitative, 
annotative, or pedagogic scholarship, must come 
through the graduate school. The law school and 
medical school do admirable work in fitting men 
for special professions, but they in no shape or way 
supply any shortcomings in the graduate school any 
more than does the college proper, the college of the 
undergraduates. The ideal for the graduate school 
and for those undergraduates who are to go into 
it must be the ideal of high scholarly production, 
which is to be distinguished in the sharpest fashion 
from the mere transmittal of ready-made knowl- 
edge without adding to it. If America is to con- 
tribute its full share to the progress not alone of 
knowledge, but of wisdom, then we must put ever- 
increasing emphasis on university work done along 
the lines of the graduate school. We can best help 
the growth of American scholarship by seeing that 
as a career it is put more on a level with the other 
careers open to our young men. The general opin- 
ion of the community is bound to have a very great 
effect even upon its most vigorous and independent 
minds. If in the public mind the career of the 
scholar is regarded as of insignificant value when 
compared with that of a glorified pawnbroker, then 
it will with difficulty be made attractive to the most 
vigorous and gifted of our American young men. 
Good teachers, excellent institutions, and libraries 
are all demanded in a graduate school worthy of the 
name. But there is an even more urgent demand 
for the right sort of student. No first-class science, 



And State Papers 411 

no first-class literature or art, can ever be built up 
with second-class men. The scholarly career, the 
career of the man of letters, the man of arts, the 
man of science, must be made such as to attract those 
strong and virile youths who now feel that they can 
only turn to business, law, or politics. There is no 
one thing which will bring about this desired change, 
but there is one thing which will materially help in 
bringing it about, and that is to secure to scholars 
the chance of getting one of a few brilliant posi- 
tions as prizes if they rise to the first rank in their 
chosen career. Every such brilliant position should 
have as an accompaniment an added salary, which 
shall help indicate how high the position really is; 
and it must be the efforts of the alumni which can 
alone secure such salaries for such positions. 

As a people I think we are waking up to the fact 
that there must be better pay for the average man 
and average woman engaged in the work of educa- 
tion. But I am not speaking of this now ; I am not 
speaking of the desirability, great though that is, of 
giving better payment to the average educator, I am 
speaking of the desirability of giving to the excep- 
tional man the chance of winning an exceptional 
prize, just as he has the chance to do in law and busi- 
ness. In business at the present day nothing could 
be more healthy than an immense reduction in the 
money value of the exceptional prizes thus to be 
won; but in scholarship what is needed is the re- 
verse. In this country we rightly go upon the the- 
ory that it is more important to care for the welfare 



4^2 Presidential Addresses 

of the average man than to put a premium UDon the 
exertions of the exceptional. But we must not for- 
get that the establishment of such a premium for 
the exceptional, though of less importance, is never- 
theless of very great importance. It is important 
even to the development of the average man, for 
the average of all of us is raised by the work of the 
great masters. 

It Is, I trust, unnecessary to say that I appreciate 
to the full the fact that the highest work of all will 
never be affected one way or the other by any ques- 
tion of compensation. And much of the work which 
is really best for the Nation must from the very 
nature of things be non-remunerative as compared 
with the work of the ordinary industries and voca- 
tions. Nor would it ever be possible or desirable 
that the rewards of transcendent success in scholar- 
ship should even approximate, from a monetary 
standpoint, the rewards in other vocations. But it 
is also true that the effect upon ambitious minds can 
not but be bad if as a people we show our very slight 
regard for scholarly achie\'ement by making no pro- 
vision at all for its reward. The chief use of the 
increased money value of the scholar's prize would 
be the index thereby afforded of the respect in which 
it was popularly held. The American scientist, the 
American scholar, should have the chance at least 
of winning such prizes as are open to his successful 
brother in Germany, England, or France, where the 
rewards paid for first-class scholarly achievement 
are as much above those paid in this country as our 



And State Papers 413 

rewards for first-class achievement in industry or 
law are above those paid abroad. 

But of course what counts infinitely more than 
any possible outside reward is the spirit of the 
worker himself. The prime need is to instil into the 
minds of the scholars themselves a true apprecia- 
tion of real as distinguished from sham success. In 
productive scholarship, in the scholarship which adds 
by its work to the sum of substantial achievement 
with which the country is to be credited, it is only 
first-class work that counts. In this field the small- 
est amount of really first-class work is worth all the 
second-class work that can possibly be produced; 
and to have done such work is in itself the fullest 
and amplest reward to the man producing it. We 
outsiders should according to our ability aid him in 
every way to produce it. Yet all that we can do is 
but little compared to what he himself can and must 
do. The spirit of the scholar is the vital factor in 
the productive scholarship of the country. 

So much for the first function of the university, 
the sending forth of a small number of scholars of 
the highest rank who will do productive work of the 
first class. Now turn to the second, and what may 
be called the normal function of the college, the 
function of turning out each year many hundreds of 
men who shall possess the trained intelligence, and 
especially the character, that will enable them to hold 
high the renown of this ancient seat of learning by 
doing useful service for the Nation, It is not my 
purpose to discuss at length what should be done in 



414 Presidential Addresses 

Harvard to produce the right spirit among the men 
who go out of Harvard, but rather to speak of 
what this spirit should be. Nor shall I speak of the 
exceptions, the men to whom college life is a disad- 
vantage. Randolph of Roanoke, he of the biting 
tongue, once remarked of an opponent that he re- 
minded him of certain tracts of land "which were 
almost worthless by nature, and became entirely so 
by cultivation." Of course, if, in any individual, 
university training produces a taste for refined idle- 
ness, a distaste for sustained effort, a barren intel- 
lectual arrogance, or a sense of supercilious aloofness 
from the world of real men who do the world's 
real work, then it has harmed that individual ; but 
in such case there remains the abiding comfort that 
he would not have amounted to much anyway. 
Neither a college training nor anything else can 
do much good to the man of weak fibre or to the 
man with a twist in his moral or intellectual make- 
up. But the average undergraduate has enough ro- 
bustness of nature, enough capacity for enthusiasm 
and aspiration, to make it worth while to turn to 
account the stuff that is in him. 

There are, however, two points in the undergrad- 
uate life of Harvard about which I think we have a 
right to feel some little concern. One is the growth 
of luxury in the university. I do not know whether 
anything we can say will have much effect on this 
point, but just so far as the alumni have weight I 
hope to see that weight felt in serious and sustained 
effort against the growing tendency to luxury, and 



And State Papers 415 

in favor of all that makes for democratic conditions. 
One of our number, the one whom I think the rest 
of us most delight to honor — Colonel Higginson — 
has given to our Alma Mater the Harvard Union, 
than which no better gift, no gift meeting a more 
vital need, could have been given to the university. 
It is neither possible nor desirable to try to take 
away all social differences from the student life; 
but it is a good thing to show how unimportant these 
differences are compared to the differences of real 
achievement, and compared also to the bonds which 
should unite together all the men who are in any 
degree capable of such real achievement; bonds, 
moreover, which should also knit these capable men 
to their brethren who need their help. 

The second point upon which I wish to speak is 
the matter of sport. Now I shall not be suspected 
of a tendency unduly to minimize the importance of 
sport. I believe heartily in sport. I believe in out- 
door games, and I do not mind in the least that they 
are rough games, or that those who take part in 
them are occasionally injured. I have no sympathy 
whatever with the overwrought sentimentality which 
would keep a young man in cotton wool, and I have 
a hearty contempt for him if he counts a broken arm 
or collar bone as of serious consequence when bal- 
anced against the chance of showing that he pos- 
sesses hardihood, physical address, and courage. 
But when these injuries are inflicted by others, either 
wantonly or of set design, we are confronted by the 
question, not of damage to one man's body, but of 



41 6 Presidential Addresses 

damage to the other man's character. Brutality in 
playing a game should awaken the heartiest and 
most plainly shown contempt for the player guilty 
of it; especially if this brutality is coupled with a 
low cunning in committing it without getting caught 
by the umpire. I hope to see both graduate and un- 
dergraduate opinion come to scorn such a man as 
one guilty of base and dishonorable action, who has 
no place in the regard of gallant and upright men. 
It is a bad thing for any college man to grow to 
regard sport as the serious business of life. It is a 
bad thing to permit sensationalism and hysteria to 
shape the development of our sports. And finally 
it is a much worse thing to permit college sport to 
become in any shape or way tainted by profession- 
alism, or by so much as the slightest suspicion of 
money-making ; and this is especially true if the pro- 
fessionalism is furtive, if the boy or man violates 
the spirit of the rule while striving to keep within 
the letter. Professional sport is all right in its way. 
I am glad to say that among my friends I number 
professional boxers and wrestlers, oarsmen, and 
baseball men, whose regard I value, and whom in 
turn I regard as thoroughly good citizens. But the 
college undergraduate who, in furtive fashion, be- 
comes a semi-professional is an unmitigated curse, 
and that not alone to university life and to the cause 
of amateur sport ; for the college graduate ought in 
after years to take the lead in putting the business 
morality of this country on a proper plane, and he 
can not do it if in his own college career his code 



And State Papers 417 

of conduct has been warped and twisted. Moreover, 
the spirit which puts so excessive a value upon his 
work as to produce this semi-professional is itself 
unhealthy. I wish to see Harvard win a reasonable 
proportion of the contests in which it enters, and I 
should be heartily ashamed of every Harvard athlete 
who did not spend every ounce there was in him in 
the effort to win, provided only he does it in hon- 
orable and manly fashion. But I think our effort 
should be to minimize rather than to increase that 
kind of love of athletics which manifests itself, not 
in joining in the athletic sports, but in crowding by 
tens of thousands to see other people indulge in 
them. It is a far better thing for our colleges to 
have the average student interested in some form of 
athletics than to have them all gather in a mass to 
see other people do their athletics for them. 

So much for the undergraduates. Now for the 
alumni, the men who are at work out in the great 
world. Of course the man's first duty is to himself 
and to those immediately dependent upon him. Un- 
less he can pull his own weight he must be content 
to remain a passenger all his life. But we have a 
right to expect that the men who come out of Har- 
vard will do something more than merely pull their 
own weight. We have a right to expect that they 
will count as positive forces for the betterment of 
their fellow-countrymen; and they can thus count 
only if they combine the power of devotion to a 
lofty ideal with practical common-sense in striving 
to realize this ideal. 



41 8 Presidential Addresses 

This Nation never stood in greater need than now 
of having among its leaders men of lofty ideals, 
which they try to live up to and not merely to talk 
of. We need men with these ideals in public life, 
and we need them just as much in business and in 
such a profession as the law. We can by statute 
establish only those exceedingly rough lines of mo- 
rality the overpassing of which means that the man 
is in jeopardy of the constable or the sheriff. But 
the Nation is badly off if in addition to this there 
is not a very much higher standard of conduct, a 
standard impossible effectively to establish by stat- 
ute, but one upon which the community as a whole, 
and especially the real leaders of the community, 
insist. Take such a question as the enforcement of 
the law. It is, of course, elementary to say that 
this is the first requisite in any civilization at all. 
But a great many people in the ranks of life from 
which most college men are drawn seem to forget 
that they should condemn with equal severity those 
men who break the law by committing crimes of 
mob violence and those who evade the law, or who 
actually break it, but so cunningly that they can not 
be discovered, the crimes they commit being not 
those of physical outrage, but those of greed and 
craft on the largest scale. The very rich man who 
conducts his business as if he believed that he were 
a law unto himself thereby immensely increases 
the difficulty of the task of upholding order when 
the disorder is a menace to men of property ; for if 
the community feels that rich men disregard the law 



And State Papers 419 

where it affects themselves, then the community is 
apt to assume the dangerous and unwholesome atti- 
tude of condoning crimes of violence committed 
against the interests which in the popular mind these 
rich men represent. This last attitude is wholly 
evil; but so is the attitude which produces it. We 
have a right to appeal to the alumni of Harvard, 
and to the alumni of every institution of learning 
in this land, to do their part in creating a public 
sentiment which shall demand of all men of means, 
and especially of the men of vast fortune, that they 
set an example to their less fortunate brethren, by 
paying scrupulous heed not only to the letter but to 
the spirit of the laws, and by acknowledging in the 
heartiest fashion the moral obligations which can 
not be expressed in law, but which stand back of and 
above all laws. It is far more important that they 
should conduct their business affairs decently than 
that they should spend the surplus of their fortunes in 
philanthropy. Much has been given to these men and 
we have the right to demand much of them in return. 
Every man of great wealth who runs his business 
with cynical contempt for those prohibitions of the 
law which by hired cunning he can escape or evade 
is a menace to our community ; and the community 
is not to be excused if it does not develop a spirit 
which actively frowns on and discountenances him. 
The great profession of the law should be that 
profession whose members ought to take the lead in 
the creation of just such a spirit. We all know that, 
as things actually are, many of the most influential 



420 Presidential Addresses 

and most highly remunerated members of the bar 
in every centre of wealth make it their special task 
to work out bold and ingenious schemes by which 
their very wealthy clients, individual or corporate, 
can evade the laws which are made to regulate in 
the interest of the public the use of great wealth. 
Now, the great lawyer who employs his talent and 
his learning in the highly remunerative task of 
enabling a very wealthy client to override or cir- 
cumvent the law is doing all that in him lies to 
encourage the growth in this country of a spirit of 
dumb anger against all laws and of disbelief in their 
efficacy. Such a spirit may breed the demand that 
laws shall be made even more drastic against the 
rich, or else it may manifest itself in hostility to all 
laws. Surely Harvard has the right to expect from 
her sons a high standard of applied morality, 
whether their paths lead them into public life, into 
business, or into the great profession of the law, 
whose members are so potent in shaping the growth 
of the national soul. 

But in addition to having high ideals it can not 
too often be said to a body such as is gathered here 
to-day, that together with devotion to what is right 
must go practical efficiency in striving for what is 
right. This is a rough, workaday, practical world, 
and if in it we are to do the work best worth 
doing, we must approach that work in a spirit re- 
mote from that of the mere visionary, and above 
all remote from that of the visionary whose aspira- 
tions after good find expression only in the shape of 



And State Papers 421 

scolding and complaining. It shall not help us if 
we avoid the Scylla of baseness of motive, only to 
be wrecked on the Charybdis of wrong-headedness, 
of feebleness and inefficiency. There can be nothing 
worse for the community than to have the rnen who 
profess lofty ideals show themselves so foolish, so 
narrow, so impracticable, as to cut themselves off 
from communion with the men who are actually 
able to do the work of governing, the work of busi- 
ness, the work of the professions. It is a sad and 
evil thing if the men with a moral sense group them- 
selves as impractical zealots, while the men of ac- 
tion gradually grow to discard and laugh at all 
moral sense as an evidence of impractical weakness. 
Macaulay, whose eminently sane and wholesome 
spirit revolted not only at weakness, but at the cen- 
sorious folly which masquerades as virtue, describes 
the condition of Scotland at the end of the seven- 
teenth century in a passage which every sincere re- 
former should keep constantly before him. 

"It is a remarkable circumstance that the same 
country should have produced in the same age the 
most wonderful specimens of both extremes of hu- 
man nature. Even in things indifferent the Scotch 
Puritan would hear of no compromise; and he was 
but too ready to consider all who recommended pru- 
dence and charity as traitors to the cause of truth. 
On the other hand, the Scotchmen of that genera- 
tion who made a figure in Parliament were the most 
dishonest and unblushing time-servers that the world 
has ever seen. Perhaps it is natural that the most 



422 Presidential Addresses 

callous and impudent vice should be found in the 
near neighborhood of unreasonable and impracti- 
cable virtue. Where enthusiasts are ready to de- 
stroy or be destroyed for trifles magnified into im- 
portance by a squeamish conscience, it is not strange 
that the very name of conscience should become a 
byword of contempt to cool and shrewd men of 
business." 

The men who go out from Harvard into the great 
world of American life bear a heavy burden of re- 
sponsibility. The only way they can show their 
gratitude to their Alma Mater is by doing their full 
duty to the Nation as a whole; and they can do 
this full duty only if they combine the high resolve 
to work for what is best and most ennobling with 
the no less resolute purpose to do their work in such 
fashion that when the end of their days comes they 
shall feel that they have actually achieved results 
and not merely talked of achieving them. 

TO THE NATIONAL EDUCATIONAL ASSOCIA- 
TION, OCEAN GROVE, N, J., JULY 7, 1905 

Mr. Maxzvell; Members of the National Educa- 
tional Association: 
I am glad to have the chance of greeting the Na- 
tional Educational Association ; for in all this demo- 
cratic land there is no more genuinely democratic 
association than this. It is truly democratic, because 
here each member meets CNery other member as his 
peer without regard to whether he is the president of 



And State Papers 423 

one of the great universities or the newest recruit to 
that high and honorable profession which has in its 
charge the upbringing and training of those boys 
and girls who in a few short years will themselves 
be settling the destinies of this Nation. It is not 
too much to say that the most characteristic work 
of the Republic is that done by the educators, for 
whatever our shortcomings as a Nation may be, 
we have at least firmly grasped the fact that we 
can not do our part in the difficult and all-impor- 
tant work of self-government, that we can not rule 
and govern ourselves, unless we approach the task 
with developed minds and trained characters. You 
teachers make the whole world your debtor. If 
you did not do your work well this Republic would 
not endure beyond the span of the generation. 
Moreover, as an incident to your avowed work, you 
render some wellnigh unbelievable services to the 
country. For instance, you render to the Repub- 
lic the prime, the vital service of amalgamating into 
one homogeneous body the children alike of those 
who are born here and of those who come here from 
so many different lands abroad. You furnish a 
common training and common ideals for the chil- 
dren of all the mixed peoples who are here being 
fused into one nationality. It is in no small degree 
due to you and your efforts that we are one people 
instead of a group of jarring peoples. 

Moreover, where altogether too much promi- 
nence is given to the mere possession of wealth, the 
country is under heavy obligations to such a body 



424 Presidential Addresses 

as this, which substitutes for the ideal of accumu- 
lating money the infinitely loftier, non-materialistic 
ideal of devotion to work worth doing simply for 
that work's sake. I do not in the least underesti- 
mate the need of having material prosperity as the 
basis of our civiHzation, but I most earnestly insist 
that if our civilization does not build a lofty super- 
structure on this basis, we can never rank among the 
really great peoples. A certain amount of money is 
of course a necessary thing, as much for the Nation 
as for the individual ; and there are few movements 
in which I more thoroughly believe than in the 
movement to secure better remuneration for our 
teachers. But, after all, the service you render is 
incalculable, because of the very fact that by your 
lives you show that you believe ideals to be worth 
sacrifice, and that you are splendidly eager to do 
non-remunerative work if this work is of good to 
your fellow-men. 

To furnish in your lives such a realized high ideal 
is to do a great service to the country. The chief 
harm done by the men of swollen fortune to the com- 
munity is not the harm that the demagogue is apt 
to depict as springing from their actions, but the 
fact that their success sets up a false standard, and 
so serves as a bad example for the rest of us. If 
we did not ourselves attach an exaggerated impor- 
tance to the rich man who is distinguished only by 
his riches, this rich man would have a most insig- 
nificant influence over us. It is generally our own 
fault if he does damage to us, for he damages us 



And State Papers 425 

chiefly by arousing our envy or by rendering us sour 
and discontented. In his actual business relations 
he is much more apt to benefit than harm the rest of 
us; and though it is eminently right to take what- 
ever steps are necessary in order to prevent the ex- 
ceptional members of his class from doing harm, 
it is wicked folly to let ourselves be drawn into any 
attack upon the man of wealth merely as such. 
Moreover, such an attack is in itself an exceptionally 
crooked and ugly tribute to wealth, and therefore 
the proof of an exceptionally ugly and crooked 
state of mind in the man making the attack. Ven- 
omous envy of wealth is simply another form of the 
spirit which in one of its manifestations takes the 
shape of cringing servility toward wealth, and in 
another the shape of brutal arrogance on the part 
of certain men of wealth. Each one of these states 
of mind, whether it be hatred, servility, or arro- 
gance, is in reality closely akin to the other two; 
for each of them springs from a fantastically twisted 
and exaggerated idea of the importance of wealth 
as compared to other things. The clamor of the 
demagogue against wealth, the snobbery of the so- 
cial columns of the newspapers which deal with the 
doings of the wealthy, and the misconduct of those 
men of wealth who act with brutal disregard of the 
rights of others, seem superficially to have no fun- 
damental relation ; yet in reality they spring from 
shortcomings which are fundamentally the same; 
and one of these shortcomings is the failure to have 
proper ideals. 



4^6 Presidential Addresses 

This failure must be remedied in large part by 
the actions of you and your fellow-teachers, your 
fellow-educators throughout this land. By your 
lives, no less than by your teachings, you show that 
while you regard wealth as a good thing, you regard 
other things as still better. It is absolutely neces- 
sary to earn a certain amount of money ; it is a man's 
first duty to those dependent upon him to earn 
enough for their support; but after a certain point 
has been reached money-making can never stand 
on the same plane with other and nobler forms of 
effort. The roll of American worthies numbers men 
like Washington and Lincoln, Grant and Farragut, 
Hawthorne and Poe, Fulton and Morse, St. Gau- 
dens and MacMonnies; it numbers statesmen and 
soldiers, men of letters, artists, sculptors, men of 
science, inventors, explorers, roadmakers, bridge 
builders, philanthropists, moral leaders in great re- 
forms; it numbers men who have deserved well in 
any one of countless fields of activity; but of rich 
men it numbers only those who have used their 
riches aright, who have treated wealth not as an end, 
but as a means, who have shown good conduct in 
acquiring it and not merely lavish generosity in dis- 
posing of it. 

Thrice fortunate are you to whom it is given to 
lead lives of resolute endeavor for the achievement 
of lofty ideals, and, furthermore, to instil, both by 
your lives and by your teachings, these ideals into 
the minds of those who in the next generation will, 
as the men and women of that generation, determine 



And State Papers 427 

the position which this Nation will hold in the his- 
tory of mankind. 

In closing, I want to speak to you of how certain 
things, some of which have happened, and some of 
which have been suggested to me by what has hap- 
pened, in the past week, emphasize what I have, said 
to you as to the importance to this country of having 
within its limits men who put the realization of high 
ideals above any form of money-making. 

Within a week this country has lost a great states- 
man, who was also a great man of letters; a man 
who occupied a peculiar and unique position in our 
country; a man of whose existence we could each 
of us be proud; for the United States as a whole 
was better because John Hay lived. John Hay 
entered the public ser\-ice as a young man just come 
of age, as the secretar}^ of President Lincoln. He 
served in the war and was a member of the Loyal 
Legion. He was trusted by and was intimate with 
Lincoln as hardly any other man was. He then 
went on rendering service after service; yet always 
able (this was one of his great advantages and great 
merits) at any moment to go back to private life 
unless he could continue in public life on his own 
terms. As the climax of his career he served as 
Secretary of State under two successive administra- 
tions, and by what he did and by what he was he 
contributed in no small degree to achieving for this 
Republic the respect of the nations of mankind. 
Such service as that could not have been rendered 
save by a man who had before him ideals as far 



428 Presidential Addresses 

apart as the poles from those ideals which have in 
them any taint of what is base or sordid. 

Now I wished to secure as John Hay's succes- 
sor the man whom I regarded as of all the men in 
the country that one best fitted to be such successor. 
In asking him to accept the position of Secretary of 
State I w^as asking him to submit to a very great 
pecuniary sacrifice; and I never even thought of 
that aspect of the question, for I knew he would 
not either. I knew that whatever other considera- 
tions he had to weigh for and against taking the 
position, the consideration of how it would affect 
his personal fortune would not be taken into account 
by Elihu Root ; and he has accepted. 

I am not speaking of Hay and Root as solitary 
exceptions. On the contrary, I am speaking of them 
as typical of a large class of men in public life. 
When we hear so much criticism of certain aspects 
of our public life and of certain of our public ser- 
vants, criticism which I regret to state is in many 
cases deserved, it is well for us to remember also 
the other side of the picture, to remember that here 
in America we have and always have had at the 
command of the Nation in any crisis, in any emer- 
gency, the very best ability to be found within the 
Nation ; and this ability has been given with the ut- 
most freedom, given lavishly and generously, al- 
though at great pecuniary loss to the man giving it. 

There is not in my Cabinet a man to whom it is 
not a financial disadvantage to stay in the Cabinet. 
There is not in my Cabinet a man who does not 



And State Papers 429 

have to give up something substantial, often very- 
much that is substantial, sometimes what it is a 
very real hardship for him to give up, in order that 
he may continue in the service of the Nation; and 
the only reward for which he looks or for which he 
cares is the consciousness of doing service worth 
rendering. I hope to see more and rriore throughout 
this Nation the spirit grow which makes such ser- 
vice possible. I hope more and more to see the 
sentiment of the country as a whole become such that 
each man shall feel borne in on him, whether he is 
in public life or in private life (and, mind you, some 
of the greatest public services can be best rendered 
by those who are not in public life), that the chance 
to do good work is the greatest chance that can 
come to any man or any woman in our generation or 
in any other generation. Let each man feel that if 
such work can be w^ell done it is in itself the amplest 
reward and the amplest prize. 

TO THE LONG ISLAND MEDICAL SOCIETY, AT 
OYSTER BAY, N. Y., JULY 12, 1905 

Mr. President, Members of the Association, Friends 
and Neighbors: 

I needed no invitation to come before you to-day. 
All I needed was permission. As soon as I learned 
that this association was to meet in our village I felt 
that I must take advantage of the opportunity to say 
a word of greeting to you in person. 

Of course it is almost needless to say that there 



430 Presidential Addresses 

is not and can not be any other lay profession the 
members of which occupy such a dual position, each 
side of which is of such importance — for the doctor 
has on the one hand to be the most thoroughly edu- 
cated man in applied science that there is in the 
country, and on the other hand, as every layman 
knows, and as doubtless many a layman in the circle 
of acquaintance of each of you would gladly testify, 
the doctor gradually becomes the closest friend to 
more people than would be possible in any other 
profession. The feelings that a man has toward the 
one human being to whom he turns, either in time 
of sickness for himself, or, what is far more impor- 
tant, in the time of sickness of those closest and 
dearest to him, can not but be of a peculiar kind. 
He can not but have a feeling for him such as he 
has for no other man. The doctor must, therefore, 
to the greatest degree develop his nature along the 
two sides of his duties, although in the case of any 
other man you would call him a mighty good citizen 
if he developed only on one side. The scientific man 
who is really a first-class scientific man has a claim 
upon the gratitude of all the country; and the man 
who is a first-class neighbor, and is always called 
in in time of trouble by his neighbors, has an equal 
claim upon society at large. But the doctor has 
both claims. Yet in addition to filling both of 
those functions he may fill many other functions. 
He may have served in the Civil War ; he may have 
rendered the greatest possible service to the commu- 
nity along any one of a dozen different lines. 



And State Papers 431 

Take, for instance, just what is being done in one 
of the great works of this country at the present time 
— the digging of the Panama Canal. That is a work 
that only a big nation could undertake or that a big 
nation could do, and it is a work for all mankind. 
The condition precedent upon success in that work 
is having the proper type of medical work as a 
preliminary, as a basis. That is the first condi- 
tion, upon the meeting of which must depend our 
success in solving the engineering and administra- 
tive problems of the work itself. I am happy to say 
that the work is being admirably done, and I am 
particularly glad to have this chance of saying it. 
Now and then some alarmist report will come from 
Panama. Just a couple of weeks ago there seemed 
to be a succession of people coming up from Pan- 
ama, each one of whom had some tale of terror to 
tell. You will always find in any battle, even if it 
is a victorious battle, that in the rear you will meet a 
number of gentlemen who are glad that they are not 
at the front; who, if they have unfortunately gotten 
at the front, have come away, and who justify their 
absence from the front by telling tales of how every- 
thing has gone wrong there. Now the people that 
flee from Panama will carry up here just such stories 
as the people that flee from the forefront of a battle 
carry to the rear with them. The people to whom 
this country owes and will owe much are those who 
stay down there and do not talk, but do their work, 
and do it well. Of course, in doing a great work like 
that in the tropics, in a region which until this Gov- 



432 Presidential Addresses 

ernment took hold of it was accounted to be a re- 
gion exceptionally unhealthy, we are going to have 
trouble, have some yellow fever, have a good deal 
of malarial fever, and suffer more from the latter 
than from the yellow fever, although we will hear 
nothing like the talk about it. We will have every 
now and then trouble as regards hygiene, just as we 
will have trouble in the engineering problems, just 
as occasionally we will have troubles in the admin- 
istrative work. Whenever any of those troubles 
come there will be a large number of excellent but 
timid men who will at once say what an awful ca- 
lamity it is, and express the deepest sorrow and 
concern, and be rather inclined to the belief that 
the whole thing is a failure. It will not be a fail- 
ure. It will be a success; and it will be a success 
because we shall treat every little check, not as a 
reason for abandoning the work, but as a reason for 
altering and bettering our plans so as to make it im- 
possible that that particular check shall happen again. 
What is being done in Panama is but a sample of 
the things that this country has done during the last 
few years, of the things in which your profession has 
borne so prominent a part. Take what we did in 
Cuba, where we tried the experiment which had not 
been tried for four hundred years — of cleaning the 
cities. One of the most important items of the 
work done by our Government in Cuba was the 
work of hygiene, the work of cleaning and disinfect- 
ing the cities so as to minimize the chance for yel- 
low fever, so as to do away with as many as possi- 



And State Papers 433 

ble of the conditions that told for disease. This 
country has never had done for it better work, that 
is, work that reflected more honor upon the country, 
or for humanity at large, than the work done for it 
in Cuba. And the man who above all others was re- 
sponsible for doing that work so w^ell was a mem- 
ber of your profession, who when the call to arms 
came himself went as a soldier to the field — the 
present Major-General Leonard Wood. Leonard 
Wood did in Cuba just the kind of work that, for 
instance. Lord Cromer has done in Egypt. We have 
not been able to reward Wood in anything like the 
proportion in which services such as his would have 
been rewarded in any other country of the first rank ; 
and there have been no meaner and more unpleasant 
m^anifestations in all our public history than the 
feelings of envy and jealousy manifested toward 
Wood. And the foul assaults and attacks made 
upon him, gentlemen, were largely because they 
grudged the fact that this admirable military officer 
should have been a doctor. 

AT WILKESBARRE, PA., AUGUST lo, 1905 

I am particularly glad to speak to this audience 
of miners and their wives and children, and espe- 
cially to speak under the auspices of this great tem- 
perance society. In our country the happiness of 
all the rest of our people depends most of all upon 
the welfare of the wage-worker and the welfare of 

the farmer. If we can secure the welfare of these 
4— Vol. XVI 



434 Presidential Addresses 

two classes we can be reasonably certain that the 
community as a whole will prosper. And we must 
never forget that the chief factor in securing the 
welfare alike of wage-worker and of farmer, as of 
everybody else, must be the man himself. 

The only effective w^ay to help anybody is to help 
him help himself. There are exceptional times when 
any one of us needs outside help, and then it should 
be given freely; but normally each one of us must 
depend upon his own exertions for his own success. 
Something can be done by wise legislation and by 
wise and honest administration of the laws ; that is, 
something can be done by our action taken in our 
collective capacity through the State and the Nation. 

Something more can be done by combination and 
organization among ourselves in our private capaci- 
ties, as citizens, so long as this combination or or- 
ganization is managed with wisdom and integrity, 
with insistence upon the rights of those benefited and 
yet with just regard for the rights of others. 

But in the last analysis the factor most influential 
in determining any man's success must ever be the 
sum of that man's own qualities, of his knowledge, 
foresight, thrift, and courage. Whatever tends to 
increase his self-respect, whatever tends to help 
him overcome the temptations with which all of us 
are surrounded, is of benefit not only to him, but to 
the whole community. 

No one society can do more to help the wage- 
worker than such a temperance society as that which 
I am now addressing. It is of incalculable conse- 



And State Papers 435 

quence to the man himself that he should be sober 
and temperate, and it is of even more consequence 
to his wife and his children; for it is a hard and 
cruel fact that in this life of ours the sins of the man 
are often visited most heavily upon those whose 
welfare should be his one especial care. 

For the drunkard, for the man who loses his job 
because he can not control or will not control his 
desire for liquor and for vicious pleasure, we have a 
feeling of anger and contempt mixed with our pity ; 
but for his unfortunate wife and little ones we feel 
only pity, and that of the deepest and tenderest kind. 

Everything possible should be done to encourage 
the growth of that spirit of self-respect, self-re- 
straint, self-reliance, which if it only grows enough 
is certain to make all those in whom it shows itself 
move steadily upward toward the highest standard 
of American citizenship. It is a proud and respon- 
sible privilege to be citizens of this great self-gov- 
erning Nation ; and each of us needs to keep stead- 
ily before his eyes the fact that he is wholly unfit to 
take part in the work of governing others unless he 
can first govern himself. He must stand up man- 
fully for his own rights ; he must respect the rights 
of others ; he must obey the law, and he must try to 
live up to those rules of righteousness which are 
above and behind all laws. 

This applies just as much to the man of great 
wealth as to the man of small means ; to the capi- 
talist as to the wage-worker. And as one prac- 
tical point, let me urge that in the event of any 



436 Presidential Addresses 

difficulty, especially if it is what is known as a 
labor trouble, both sides show themselves willing to 
meet, willing to consult, and anxious each to treat 
the other reasonably and fairly, each to look at 
the other's side of the case and to do the other jus- 
tice. If only this course could be generally fol- 
lowed, the chance of industrial disaster would be 
minimized. 

Now, my friends, I want to read you an extract 
from a letter I have just received from a Catholic 
priest whom I know well and whom I know to be 
as stanch a friend of the laboring man as there is 
to be found in this country. Now and then — not too 
often — it is a good thing for all of us to hear what 
is not perhaps altogether palatable, provided only 
that the person who tells the truth is our genuine 
friend, knows what he is talking about (even though 
he may not see all sides of the case), and tells us 
what he has to sa}^ not with a desire to hurt our 
feelings, but with the transparent purpose to do us 
good. With this foreword, here is a part of the 
letter : 

"I would humbly recommend that you lend your 
entire weisfht to the cause which the Catholic Total 
Abstinence Union of America represents, and espe- 
cially so in its relation to the working classes of this 
country, for whom it is doing so much good. You 
know that the temperance movement is a potent aux- 
iliary to the institutions of our country in building 
up a better manhood and a truer Christianity among 
our citizens. It played a very important part in the 



And State Papers 437 

two coal strikes of 1900 and 1902, respectively, by- 
keeping the men sober, and thus removing the dan- 
ger of riotous and unbecoming conduct. There is 
one discouraging feature connected with the upward 
tendency of the wage scale among the workmen of 
this country. The higher the wages, the more 
money they spend in saloons. The shorter the 
hours, the more they are inclined to absent them- 
selves from home. An apparent disregard for fam- 
ily ties is growing among the poorer classes which 
will eventually lead to a disregard for the blessings 
our country affords them. Hence, with an increase 
of wages a corresponding movement for better man- 
hood, nobler citizenship, and truer Christianity 
should be set on foot. The dignity of labor should 
be maintained, which can be done only through the 
love that a man should have for his work, and 
through the intelligence which he puts into it. A 
steady hand and sober mind are necessary for this. 
Hence, the necessity of the temperance cause and 
of the efforts which organized abstainers are put- 
ting into the movement." 

Now, in what is here written this priest does not 
mean that the tendency is to grow worse; but he 
means that with shorter hours and increased wages 
there is a tendency to go wrong which must be 
offset by movements such as this great temperance 
movement and similar efforts for social and civic 
betterment, or else the increase in leisure and money 
will prove a curse instead of a blessing. I strive 
never to tell any one what I do not thoroughly be- 



438 Presidential Addresses 

lieve, and I shall not say to you that to be honest, 
and temperate, and hardworking, and thrifty will 
always bring success. 

The hand of the Lord is sometimes heavy upon 
the just as well as upon the unjust, and in the life 
of labor and effort which we must lead on this earth 
it is not always possible either by work, by wisdom, 
or by upright behavior to ward off disaster. But 
it is most emphatically true that the chance for lead- 
ing a happy and prosperous life is immensely im- 
proved if only the man is decent, sober, industri- 
ous, and exercises foresight and judgment. Let him 
remember above all that the performance of duty is 
the first essential to right living, and that a good 
type of average family life is the cornerstone of na- 
tional happiness and greatness. No man can be a 
good citizen, can deserve the respect of his fellows, 
unless first of all he is a good man in his own fam- 
ily, unless he does his duty faithfully by his wife and 
children. 

I strongly believe in trades unions wisely and 
justly handled, in which the rightful purpose to 
benefit those connected with them is not accom- 
panied by a desire to do injustice or wrong to others. 
I believe it the duty of capitalist and wage-worker 
to try to seek one another out, to understand each 
the other's point of view, and to endeavor to show 
broad and kindly human sympathy one with the 
other. 

I believe in the work of these great temperance 
organizations, of all kindred movements like the 



And State Papers 439 

Young Men's and Young Women's Christian Asso- 
ciations, in short in every movement which strives 
to help a man by teaching him how to help himself. 
But most of all I believe in the efficacy of the man 
himself striving continually to increase his own self- 
respect by the way in which he does his duty to 
himself and to his neighbor. 

AT CHAUTAUQUA, N. Y., AUGUST 11, 1905 

To-day I wish to speak to you on one feature of 
our national foreign policy and one feature of our 
national domestic policy. 

The Monroe Doctrine is not a part of interna- 
tional law. But it is the fundamental feature of our 
entire foreign policy so far as the Western Hemi- 
sphere is concerned, and it has more and more been 
meeting with recognition abroad. The reason why 
it is meeting with this recognition is because we 
have not allowed it to become fossilized, but have 
adapted our construction of it to meet the growing, 
changing needs of this hemisphere. Fossilization, 
of course, means death, whether to an individual, a 
government, or a doctrine. 

It is out of the question to claim a right and yet 
shirk the responsibility for exercising that right. 
When we announce a policy such as the Monroe 
Doctrine we thereby commit ourselves to accepting 
the consequences of the policy, and these conse- 
quences from time to time alter. 

Let us look for a moment at what the Monroe 



440 Presidential Addresses 

Doctrine really is. It forbids the territorial en- 
croachment of non-American powers on American 
soil. Its purpose is partly to secure this Nation 
against seeing great military powers obtain new 
footholds in the Western Hemisphere, and partly to 
secure to our fellow-republics south of us the chance 
to develop along their own lines without being op- 
pressed or conquered by non- American powers. As 
we have grown more and more powerful our advo- 
cacy of this doctrine has been received with more 
and more respect ; but what has tended most to give 
the doctrine standing among the nations is our 
growing willingness to show that we not only mean 
what we say and are prepared to back it up, but that 
we mean to recognize our obligations to foreign peo- 
ples no less than to insist upon our own rights. 

We can not permanently adhere to the Monroe 
Doctrine unless we succeed in making it evident in 
the first place that we do not intend to treat it in 
any shape or way as an excuse for aggrandizement 
on our part at the expense of the republics to the 
south of us : second, that we do not intend to permit 
it to be used by any of these republics as a shield 
to protect that republic from the consequences of 
its own misdeeds against foreign nations ; third, that 
inasmuch as by this doctrine we prevent other na- 
tions from interfering on this side of the water, we 
shall ourselves in good faith try to help those of our 
sister republics, which need such help, upward to- 
Avard peace and order. 

As regards the first point we must recognize the 



And State Papers 441 

fact that in some South American countries there 
has been much suspicion lest we should interpret the 
Monroe Doctrine in some way inimical to their in- 
terests. Now let it be understood once for all that 
no just and orderly government on this continent 
has anything to fear from us. There are certain 
of the republics south of us which have already 
reached such a point of stability, order, and pros- 
perity that they are themselves, although as yet 
hardly consciously, among the guarantors of this 
doctrine. No stable and growing American republic 
wishes to see some great non-American military 
power acquire territory in its neighborhood. It is 
the interest of all of us on this continent that no such 
event should occur, and in addition to our own Re- 
public there are now already republics hi the re- 
gions south of us which have reached a point of 
prosperity and power that enables them to be con- 
siderable factors in maintaining this doctrine which 
is so much to the advantage of all of us. It must 
be understood that under no circumstances will the 
United States use the Monroe Doctrine as a cloak 
for territorial aggression. Should any of our neigh- 
bors, no matter how turbulent, how disregardful of 
our rights, finally get into such a position that the 
utmost limits of our forbearance are reached, all 
the people south of us may rest assured that no 
action will ever be taken save what is absolutely de- 
manded by our self-respect: that this action will 
not take the form of territorial aggrandizement on 
our part, and that it will only be taken at all with 



44^ Presidential Addresses 

the most extreme reluctance and not without having 
exhausted every effort to avert it. 

As to the second point, if a repubhc to the south 
of us commits a tort against a foreign nation, such, 
for instance, as wrongful action against the persons 
of citizens of that nation, then the Monroe Doctrine 
does not force us to interfere to prevent punishment 
of the tort, save to see that the punishment does not 
directly or indirectly assume the form of territorial 
occupation of the offending country. The case is 
more difficult when the trouble comes from the fail- 
ure to meet contractual obligations. Our own Gov- 
ernment has always refused to enforce such con- 
tractual obligations on behalf of its citizens by the 
appeal to arms. It is much to be wished that all 
foreign governments would take the same view. 
But at present this country would certainly not be 
willing to go to war to prevent a foreign govern- 
ment from collecting a just debt or to back up some 
one of our sister republics in a refusal to pay just 
debts; and the alternative may in any case prove 
to be that we shall ourselves undertake to bring 
about some arrangement by which so much as is pos- 
sible of the just obligations shall be paid. Person- 
ally I should always prefer to see this country step 
in and put through such an arrangement rather than 
let any foreign country undertake it. 

I do not want to see any foreign ])ower take 
possession permanently or temporarily of the 
custom-houses of an American republic in order 
to enforce its obligations, and the alternative may 



And State Papers 443 

at any time be that we shall be forced to do so 
ourselves. 

Finally, and what is in my view really the most 
important thing of all, it is our duty, so far as we 
are able, to try to help upward our weaker brothers. 
Just as there has been a gradual growth of the ethi- 
cal element in the relations of one individual to an- 
other, so that with all the faults of our Christian 
civilization it yet remains true that we are, no mat- 
ter how slowly, more and more coming to recognize 
the duty of bearing one another's burdens, similarly 
I believe that the ethical element is by degrees enter- 
ing into the dealings of one nation with another. 

Under strain of emotion caused by sudden disas- 
ter this feeling is very evident. A famine or a 
plague in one country brings much sympathy and 
some assistance from other countries. Moreover, 
we are now beginning to recognize that weaker peo- 
ples have a claim upon us, even when the appeal is 
made, not to our emotions by some sudden calamity, 
but to our consciences by a long-continuing condi- 
tion of affairs. 

I do not mean to say that nations have more than 
begun to approach the proper relationship one to 
another, and I fully recognize the folly of proceed- 
ing upon the assumption that this ideal condition 
can now be realized in full— for, in order to pro- 
ceed upon such an assumption, we would first re- 
quire some method of forcing recalcitrant nations to 
do their duty, as well as of seeing that they are 
protected in their rights. 



444 Presidential Addresses 

In the interest of justice, it is as necessary to ex- 
ercise the poHce power as to show charity and help- 
ful generosity. But something can even now be 
done toward the end in view. That something, for 
instance, this Nation has already done as regards 
Cuba, and is now trying to do as regards Santo 
Domingo. There are few things in our history in 
which we should take more genuine pride than the 
way in which we liberated Cuba, and then, instead 
of instantly abandoning it to chaos, stayed in direc- 
tion of the affairs of the island until we had put it 
on the right path, and finally gave it freedom and 
helped it as it started on the life of an independent 
republic. 

Santo Domingo has now made an appeal to us 
to help it in turn, and not only every principle of 
wisdom but every generous instinct within us bids 
us respond to the appeal. The conditions in Santo 
Domingo have for a number of years grown from 
bad to worse until recently all society was on the 
verge of dissolution. Fortunately just at this time 
a wise ruler sprang up in Santo Domingo, who, 
with his colleagues, saw the dangers threatening 
their beloved country, and appealed to the friendship 
of their great and powerful neighbor to help them. 
The immediate threat came to them in the shape of 
foreign intervention. The previous rulers of Santo 
Domingo had recklessly incurred debts, and owing 
to her internal disorders she had ceased to be able 
to pro\nde means of paying the debts. The pa- 
tience of her foreign creditors had become ex- 



And State Papers 445 

haiisted, and at least one foreign nation was on the . 
point of intervention and was only prevented from 
intervening by the unofficial assurance of this Gov- 
ernment that it would itself strive to help Santo 
Domingo in her hour of need. Of the debts in- 
curred some were just, while some were not of a 
character which really renders it obligatory on, or 
proper for, Santo Domingo to pay them in full. But 
she could not pay any of them at all unless some 
stability was assured. 

Accordingly the Executive Department of our 
Government negotiated a treaty under which we are 
to try to help the Dominican people to straighten out 
their finances. This treaty is pending before the 
Senate, whose consent to it is necessary. In the 
meantime we have made a temporary arrangement 
which will last until the Senate has had time to take 
action upon the treaty. Under this arrangement we 
see to the honest administration of the custom- 
houses, collecting the revenues, turning over forty- 
five per cent to the Government for running ex- 
penses and putting the other fifty-five per cent into 
a safe deposit for equitable division among the va- 
rious creditors, whether European or American, ac- 
cordingly as, after investigation, their claims seem 

just. 

The custom-houses offer wellnigh the only sources 
of revenue in Santo Domingo, and the different 
revolutions usually have as their real aim the ob- 
taining possession of these custom-houses. The 
mere fact that we are protecting the custom-houses 



44^ Presidential Addresses 

and collecting the revenue with efficiency and hon- 
esty has completely discouraged all revolutionary 
movement, while it has already produced such an 
increase in the revenues that the Government is ac- 
tually getting more from the forty-five per cent that 
we turn over to it than it got formerly when it took 
the entire revenue. This is enabling the poor har- 
assed people of Santo Domingo once more to turn 
their attention to industry and to be free from the 
curse of interminable revolutionary disturbance. It 
offers to all bona fide creditors, American and Eu- 
ropean, the only really good chance to obtain that 
to which they are justly entitled, while it in return 
gives to Santo Domingo the only opportunity of 
defence against claims which it ought not to pay — 
for now if it meets the views of the Senate we shall 
ourselves thoroughly examine all these claims, 
whether American or foreign, and see that none that 
are improper are paid. Indeed, the only effective 
opposition to the treaty will probably come from dis- 
honest creditors, foreign and American, and from 
the professional revolutionists of the island itself. 
We have already good reason to believe that some 
of the creditors who do not dare expose their claims 
to honest scrutiny are endeavoring to stir up sedi- 
tion in the island, and are also endeavoring to stir 
up opposition to the treaty both in Santo Domingo 
and here, trusting that in one place or the other 
it may be possible to secure either the rejection of 
the treaty or else its amendment in such fashion as 
to be tantamount to rejection. 



And State Papers 447 

Under the course taken, stability and order and 
all the benefits of peace are at last coming to Santo 
Domingo, all danger of foreign intervention has 
ceased, and there is at last a prospect that all credi- 
tors will get justice, no more and no less. If the 
arrangement is terminated, chaos will follow ; and if 
chaos follows, sooner or later this Government may- 
be involved in serious difficulties with foreign gov- 
ernments over the island, or else may be forced itself 
to intervene in the island in some unpleasant fashion. 
Under the present arrangement the independence of 
the island is scrupulously respected, the danger of 
violation of the Monroe Doctrine by the interven- 
tion of foreign powers vanishes, and the interfer- 
ence of our Government is minimized, so that we 
only act in conjunction with the Santo Domingo 
authorities to secure the proper administration of 
the customs, and therefore to secure the payment 
of just debts and to secure the Santo Dominican 
Government against demands for unjust debts. The 
present method prevents there being any need of 
our establishing any kind of protectorate over the 
island and gives the people of Santo Domingo the 
same chance to move onward and upward which 
we have already given to the people of Cuba. It 
will be doubly to our discredit as a Nation if we 
fail to take advantage of this chance; for it will be 
of damage to ourselves, and, above all, it will be of 
incalculable damage to Santo Domingo. Every 
consideration of wise policy, and, above all, every 
consideration of large generosity, bids us meet the 



44^ Presidential Addresses 

request of Santo Domingo as we are now trying 
to meet it. 

So much for one feature of our foreign policy. 
Now for one feature of our domestic policy. One of 
the main features of our national go\-ernmental pol- 
icy should be the effort to secure adequate and 
effective supervisory and regulatory control over all 
great corporations doing an interstate business. 
Much of the legislation aimed to prevent the evils 
connected with the enormous development of these 
great corporations has been ineffective, partly be- 
cause it aimed at doing too much, and partly be- 
cause it did not confer on the Government a really 
efficient method of holding any guilty corporation 
to account. The effort to prevent all restraint of 
competition, whether harmful or beneficial, has been 
ill-judged ; what is needed is not so much the effort 
to prevent combination as a vigilant and effective 
control of the combinations formed, so as to secure 
just and equitable dealing on their part alike toward 
the public generally, toward their smaller competi- 
tors, and toward the wage- workers in their employ. 

Under the present laws we have in the last four 
years accomplished much that is of substantial 
value ; but the difficulties in the way have been so 
great as to prove that further legislation is ad- 
visable. Many corporations show themselves honor- 
ably desirous to obey the law; but, unfortunately, 
some corporations, and very wealthy ones at that, 
exhaust exevy effort which can be suggested by the 
highest ability, or secured by the most lavish expen- 



And State Papers 449 

diture of money, to defeat the purposes of the laws 
on the statute books. 

Not only the men in control of these corporations, 
but the business world generally, ought to realize 
that such conduct is in every way perilous, and con- 
stitutes a menace to the Nation generally, and espe- 
cially to the people of great property. 

I earnestly believe that this is true of only a rela- 
tively small portion of the very rich men engaged 
in handling the largest corporations in the country ; 
but the attitude of these comparatively few men does 
undoubtedly harm the country, and above all harm 
the men of large means, by the just, but sometimes 
misguided, popular indignation to which it gives 
rise. The consolidation, in the form of what are 
popularly called trusts, of corporate interests of im- 
mense value has tended to produce unfair restraints 
of trade of an oppressive character, and these unfair 
restraints tend to create great artificial monopolies. 
The violations of the law known as the anti-trust 
law, which was meant to meet the conditions thus 
arising, have more and more become confined to the 
larger combinations, the very ones against whose 
policy of monopoly and oppression the policy of the 
law was chiefly directed. Many of these combina- 
tions by secret methods and by protracted litigation 
are still unwisely seeking to avoid the consequences 
of their illegal action. The Government has very 
properly exercised moderation in attempting to en- 
force the criminal provisions of the statute; kit it 
has become our conviction that in some cases, such 



45^ Presidential Addresses 

as that of at least certain of the beef packers recently 
indicted in Chicago, it is impossible longer to show 
leniency. Moreover, if the existing law proves to 
be inadequate, so that under established rules of evi- 
dence clear violations may not be readily proved, 
defiance of the law must inevitably lead to further 
legislation. This legislation may be more drastic 
than I would prefer. If so, it must be distinctly 
understood that it will be because of the stubborn 
determination of some of the great combinations in 
striving to prevent the enforcement of the law as it 
stands, by every device, legal and illegal. Very 
many of these men seem to think that the alternative 
is simply between submitting to the mild kind of 
governmental control we advocate and the absolute 
freedom to do whatever they think best. They are 
greatly in error. Either tliey will have to submit 
to reasonable supervision and regulation by the na- 
tional authorities, or else they will ultimately have to 
submit to governmental action of a far more drastic 
type. Personally, I think our people would be most 
unwise if they let any exasperation due to the acts 
of certain great corporations drive them into drastic 
action, and I should oppose such action. But the great 
corporations are themselves to blame if by their op- 
position to what is legal and just they foster the 
popular feeling which calls for such drastic action. 
Some great corporations resort to every technical 
expedient to render enforcement of the law impos- 
sible, and their obstructive tactics and refusal to 
acquiesce in the policy of the law have taxed to 



And State Papers 451 

the utmost the machinery of the Department of 
Justice. In my judgment Congress may well inquire 
whether it should not seek other means for carrying 
into effect the law. I believe that all corporations 
engaged in interstate commerce should be under 
the supervision of the National Government. I do 
not believe in taking steps hastily or rashly, and it 
may be that all that is necessary in the immediate 
future is to pass an interstate commerce bill con- 
ferring upon some branch of the executive govern- 
ment the power of effective action to remedy the 
abuses in connection with railway transportation. 
But in the end, and in my judgment at a time not 
very far off, we shall have to, or at least we shall 
find that we ought to, take further action as regards 
all corporations doing interstate business. The enor- 
mous increase in interstate trade, resulting from 
the industrial development of the last quarter of a 
century, makes it proper that the Federal Govern- 
ment should, so far as may be necessary to carry into 
effect its national policy, assume a degree of ad- 
ministrative control of these great corporations. 

It may well be that we shall find that the only 
effective way of exercising this supervision is to 
require all corporations engaged in interstate com- 
merce to produce proof satisfactory, say, to the 
Department of Commerce, that they are not parties 
to any contract or combination or engaged in any 
monopoly in interstate trade in violation of the anti- 
trust law, and that their conduct on certain other 
specified points is proper ; and, moreover, that these 



45^ Presidential Addresses 

corporations shall agree, with a penalty of forfei- 
ture of their right to engage in such commerce, to 
furnish any evidence of any kind as to their trade 
between the States whenever so required by the De- 
partment of Commerce. 

It is the almost universal policy of the several 
States, provided by statute, that foreign corpora- 
tions may lawfully conduct business within their 
boundaries only when they produce certificates that 
they have complied with the requirements of their 
respective States; in other words, that corporations 
shall not enjoy the privileges and immunities af- 
forded by the State governments without first com- 
plying with the policy of their laws. Now the bene- 
fits which corporations engaged in interstate trade 
enjoy under the United States Government are in- 
calculable; and in respect of such trade the jurisdic- 
tion of the Federal Government is supreme when it 
chooses to exercise it. 

When, as is now the case, many of the great cor- 
porations consistently strain the last resources of 
legal technicality to avoid obedience to a law for 
the reasonable regulation of their business, the only 
way effectively to meet this attitude on their part is 
to give to the Executive Department of the Govern-' 
ment a more direct and therefore more efficient su- 
pervision and control of their management. 

In speaking against the abuses committed by cer- 
tain very wealthy corporations or individuals, and of 
the necessity of seeking so far as it can safely be 
done to remedy these abuses, there is always danger 



And State Papers 453 

ist what is said may be misinterpreted as an attack 
upon men of means generally. Now it can not too 
often be repeated in a Republic like ours that the 
only way by which it is possible permanently to 
benefit the condition of the less able and less fortu- 
nate is so to shape our policy that all industrious 
and efficient people who act decently may be bene- 
fited; and this means, of course, that the benefit 
will come even more to the more able and more for- 
tunate. If, under such circumstances, the less for- 
tunate man is moved by envy of his more fortunate 
brother to strike at the conditions under which they 
have both, though unequally, prospered, he may rest 
assured that while the result may be damaging to 
the other man, it will be even more damaging to 
himself. Of course, I am now speaking of prosper- 
ity that comes under normal and proper conditions. 

In our industrial and social system the interests 
of all men are so closely intertwined that in the im- 
mense majority of cases the straight-dealing man 
who by ingenuity and industry benefits himself must 
also benefit others. The man of great productive 
capacity who gets rich through guiding the labor of 
hundreds or thousands of other men does so, as a 
rule, by enabling their labor to produce more than 
it would without his guidance, and both he and they 
share in the benefit, so that even if the share be 
unequal it must never be forgotten that they too 
are really benefited by his success. 

A vital factor in the success of any enterprise is 
the guiding intelligence of the man at the top, and 



454 Presidential Addresses 

there is need in the interest of all of us to encourage 
rather than to discourage the activity of the excep- 
tional men who guide average men so that their 
labor may result in increased production of the kind 
which is demanded at the time. Normally we help 
the wage-worker, we help the man of small means, 
by making conditions such that the man of excep- 
tional business ability receives an exceptional re- 
ward for that ability. 

But while insisting with all emphasis upon this, 
it is also true that experience has shown that when 
there is no governmental restraint or supervision, 
some of the exceptional men use their energies, not 
in ways that are for the common good, but in ways 
which tell against this common good; and that by 
so doing they not only wrong smaller and less able 
men — whether wage-workers or small producers 
and traders — but force other men of exceptional 
abilities themselves to do what is wrong under pen- 
alty of falling behind in the keen race for success. 
There is need of legislation to strive to meet such 
abuses. At one time or in one place this legisla- 
tion may take the form of factory laws and em- 
ployers' liability laws. Under other conditions it 
may take the form of dealing with the franchises 
which derive their value from the grant of the rep- 
resentatives of the people. It may be aimed at the 
manifold abuses, far-reaching in their effects, which 
spring from overcapitalization. Or it may be neces- 
sary to meet such conditions as those with which I 
am now dealing and to strive to procure proper su- 



And State Papers 455 

pervision and regulation by the National Govern- 
ment of all great corporations engaged in interstate 
commerce or doing an interstate business. 

There are good people who are afraid of each type 
of legislation ; and much the same kind of argument 
that is now advanced against the effort to regulate 
big corporations has been again and again advanced 
against the effort to secure proper employers' lia- 
bility laws or proper factory laws with reference 
to women and children ; much the same kind of ar- 
gument was advanced but five years ago against the 
franchise-tax law enacted in this State while I was 
Governor. 

Of course there is always the danger of abuse 
if legislation of this type is approached in a hysteri- 
cal or sentimental spirit, or, above all, if it is ap- 
proached in a spirit of envy and hatred toward men 
of wealth. 

We must not try to go too fast, under penalty 
of finding that we may be going in the wrong di- 
rection ; and, in any event, we ought always to pro- 
ceed by evolution and not by revolution. The laws 
must be conceived and executed in a spirit of sanity 
and justice, and with exactly as much regard for 
the rights of the big man as for the rights of the 
little man — treating big man and little man exactly 
alike. 

Our ideal must be the effort to combine all proper 
freedom for individual effort with some guarantee 
that the effort is not exercised in contravention of 
the eternal and immutable principles of justice. 



456 Presidential Addresses 



TO THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE COLORED 

INDUSTRIAL ASSOCIATION, RICHMOND, 

VA, OCTOBER 18, 1905 

My Fellow-Citizens: 

I want to congratulate you upon the showing 
your school-children have made, and further I wish 
as an American to congratulate the representatives 
of the colored race who have shown such progress 
in directing the industrial interests of this city. All 
they have done in that way means a genuine prog- 
ress for the race. I am glad as an American for 
what you are doing. The standing of the bank 
which in this city is managed by colored men should 
give genuine pride to all the colored men of this 
country. Its record is an enviable one. You 
colored men who show in business life both ability 
and a high order of integrity are real benefactors 
not only of your race but of the whole country. 

AT CAPITOL SQUARE, RICHMOND, VA., 
OCTOBER 18, 1905 

My Fellozv-Citizens: 

I trust I need hardly say how great is my pleasure 
at speaking in this historic capital of your historic 
State — the State than which no other has contrib- 
uted a larger proportion to the leadership of the 
nation; for on the honor roll of those American 
worthies whose greatness is not only for the age 



And State Papers 457 

but for all time, not only for one nation but for all 

the world, on this honor roll Virginia's name 

stands above all others. And in greeting all of 

you, I know that no one will grudge my saying a 

special word of acknowledgment to the veterans 

of the Civil War. A man would indeed be but a 

poor American who could without a thrill witness 

the way in which, in city after city in the North as 

in the South, on every public occasion, the men 

who wore the blue and the men who wore the gray 

now march and stand shoulder to shoulder, giving 

tangible proof that we are all now in fact as well 

as in name a reunited people, a people infinitely 

richer because of the priceless memories left to all 

Americans by you men who fought in the great 

war. Last Memorial Day I spoke in Brooklyn, at 

the unveiling of the statue of a Northern general, 

under the auspices of the Grand Army of the 

Republic, and that great audience cheered every 

allusion to the valor and self-devotion of the men 

who followed Lee as heartily as they cheered every 

allusion to the valor and self-devotion of the men 

who followed Grant. The wounds left by the great 

civil war have long healed, but its memories remain. 

Think of it, oh, my countrymen, think of the good 

fortune that is ours! That whereas every other 

war of modern times has left feelings of rancor 

and bitterness to keep asunder the combatants. 

our great war has left to the sons and daughters 

of the men who fought, on whichever side they 

fought, the same right to feel the keenest pride in 
S— Vol. XVI 



458 Presidential Addresses 

the great deeds alike of the men who fought on 
one side and of the men who fought on the other. 
The proud self-sacrifice, the resolute and daring 
courage, the high and steadfast devotion to the 
right as each man saw it, whether Northerner or 
Southerner, these cjualities render all Americans for- 
ever the debtors of those who in the dark days from 
'6 1 to '65 proved their truth by their endeavor. 
Here around Richmond, here in your own State, 
there lies battlefield after battlefield, rendered for- 
ever memorable by the men who counted death as 
but a little thing when weighed in the balance 
against doing their duty as it was given them to 
see it. These men have left us of the younger 
generation not merely the memory of what they 
did in war, but of what they did in peace. Foreign 
observers predicted that when such a great war 
closed it would be impossible for the hundreds of 
thousands of combatants to return to the paths of 
peace. They predicted ceaseless disorder, wild 
turbulence, the alternation of anarchy and despot- 
ism. But the good sense and self-restraint of the 
average American citizen falsified these prophecies. 
The great armies disbanded and the private in the 
ranks, like the officer who had commanded him, 
went back to take up the threads of his life where 
he had dropped them when the call to arms came. 
It was a wonderful, a marvelous thing, in a country 
consecrated to peace with but an infinitesimal reg- 
ular army, to develop so quickly the huge hosts 
which confronted one another between the James 



And State Papers 459 

and the Potomac and along the Mississippi and its 
tributaries. But it was an even more wonderful, 
an even more marvelous thing, how these great 
hosts, once their work done, resolved themselves 
into the general fabric of the Nation. 

Great though the meed of praise is which is due 
the South for the soldierly valor her sons dis- 
played during the four years of war, I think that 
even greater praise is due to her for what her 
people have accomplished in the forty years of 
peace which followed. For forty years the South 
has made not merely a courageous, but at times a 
desperate struggle, as she has striven for moral 
and material well-being. Her success has been ex- 
traordinary, and all citizens of our common country 
should feel joy and pride in it; for any great deed 
done or any fine qualities shown by one group of 
Americans of necessity reflects credit upon all 
Americans. Only a heroic people could have bat- 
tled successfully against the conditions with which 
the people of the South found themselves face to 
face at the end of the Civil War. There had been 
utter destruction and disaster, and wholly new busi- 
ness and social problems had to be faced with the 
scantiest means. The economic and political fabric 
had to be readjusted in the midst of dire want, of 
grinding poverty. The future of the broken, war- 
swept South seemed beyond hope, and if her sons 
and daughters had been of weaker fibre there would 
in very truth have been no hope. But the men and 
the sons of the men who had faced with unfaltering 



460 Presidential Addresses 

front every alternation of good and evil fortune 
from Manassas to Appomattox, and the women, their 
wives and mothers, whose courage and endurance 
had reached an even higher heroic level — these 
men and these women set themselves undauntedly 
to the great task before them. For twenty years the 
struggle was hard and at times doubtful. Then 
the splendid qualities of your manhood and woman- 
hood told, as they were bound to tell, and the 
wealth of your extraordinary natural resources 
began to be shown. Now the teeming riches of 
mine and field and factory attest the prosperity of 
those who are all the stronger because of the trials 
and struggles through which this prosperity has 
come. You stand loyally to your traditions and 
memories ; you also stand loyally for our great com- 
mon country of to-day and for our common flag, 
which symbolizes all that is brightest and most 
hopeful for the future of mankind; you face the 
new age in the spirit of the age. Alike in your 
material and in your spiritual and intellectual de- 
velopment you stand abreast of the foremost in the 
world's progress. 

And now, my fellow-citizens, my fellow-Ameri- 
cans, exactly as all of us, whether we live in the 
East or the West, in the North or the South, have 
the right merely as Americans to feel pride in every 
great deed done by any American in the past, and 
exactly as we are knit together by this common 
heritage of memories, so we are knit together, by 
the bond of our common duties in the present, our 



And State Papers 461 

common interest in the future. Many and great 
problems lie before us. If we treat the mighty 
memories of the past merely as excuses for sitting 
iazily down in the present, or for standing aside 
from the rough work of the world, then these mem- 
ories will prove a curse instead of a blessing. But 
if we treat them as I believe we shall treat them, 
not as excuses for inaction, but as incentives to 
make us show that we are worthy of our fathers 
and of our fathers' fathers, then in truth the deeds 
of the past will not have been wasted, for they shall 
bring forth fruit a hundred-fold in the present gen- 
eration. We of this Nation, we, the citizens of this 
mighty and wonderful Republic, stretching across 
a continent between the two greatest oceans, enjoy 
extraordinary privileges, and as our opportunity is 
great, therefore our responsibility is great. We 
have duties to perform both abroad and at home, 
and we can not shirk either set of duties and fully 
retain our self-respect. 

In foreign affairs we must make up our minds 
that, whether we wish it or not, we are a great people 
and must play a great part in the world. It is not 
open to us to choose whether we will play that great 
part or not. We have to play it ; all we can decide is 
whether we shall play it well or ill. And I have 
too much confidence in my countrymen to doubt 
what the decision will be. Our mission in the 
world should be one of peace, but not the peace of 
cravens, the peace granted contemptuously to those 
who purchase it by surrendering the right. No! 



462 Presidential Addresses 

Our voice must be effective for peace because it is 
raised for righteousness first and for peace only as 
the handmaiden of righteousness. We must be 
scrupulous in respecting the rights of the weak, 
and no less careful to make it evident that we do 
not act through fear of the strong. We must 
be scrupulous in doing justice to others and scru- 
pulous in exacting justice for ourselves. We 
must beware equally of that sinister and cynical 
teaching which would persuade us to disregard 
ethical standards in international relations, and of 
the no less hurtful folly which would stop the whole 
work of civilization by a well-meant but silly per- 
sistency in trying to apply to peoples unfitted for 
them those theories of government and of national 
action which are only suited for the most advanced 
races. In particular, we must remember that in 
undertaking to build the Panama Canal we have 
necessarily undertaken to police the seas at either 
end of it; and this means that we have a peculiar 
interest in the preservation of order in the coasts 
and islands of the Caribbean. I firmly believe that 
by a little wise and generous aid we can help even 
the most backward of the peoples in these coasts 
and islands forward along the path of orderly lib- 
erty so that they can stand alone. If we decline to 
give them such help the result will be bad both for 
them and for us ; and will in the end in all probabil- 
ity cause us to face humiliation or bloodshed. 

The problems that face us abroad are important, 
but the problems that face us at home are even 



And State Papers 463 

more important. The extraordinary growth of in- 
dustriahsm during the last half century brings every 
civilized people face to face with the gravest social 
and economic questions. This is an age of com- 
bination among capitalists and combination among 
wage-workers. It is idle to try to prevent such com- 
binations. Our efforts should be to see that they 
work for the good and not for the harm of the 
body politic. New devices of law are necessary 
from time to time in order to meet the changed 
and changing conditions. But after all we will do 
well to remember that, although the problems to be 
solved change from generation to generation, the 
spirit in which their solution must be attempted 
remains forever the same. It is in peace as it is in 
war. Tactics change and weapons change. The 
Continental troops in their blue and buff, who 
fought undef Washington and Greene and Wayne, 
differed entirely in arms and in training from those 
who in blue or gray faced one another in the armies 
of Grant and of Lee, of Sherman and of Johnston. 
And now the sons of these same Union and 
Confederate veterans, who serve in our gallant 
little army of to-day, wear a different uniform, 
carry a different weapon, and practice different 
tactics. But the soul of the soldier has remained 
the same throughout, and the qualities which drove 
forward to victory or to death the men of '76 and 
the men of '61 are the ver}^ qualities which the men 
of to-day must keep unchanged if in the hour of 
need the honor of the Nation is to be kept un- 



464 Presidential Addresses 

tarnished. So it is in civil life. This Government 
was formed with as its basic idea the principle of 
treating each man on his worth as a man, of pay- 
ing no heed to whether he was rich or poor, no heed 
to his creed or his social standing, but only to the 
way in which he performed his duty to himself, to 
his neighbor, to the state. From this principle we 
can not afford to vary by so much as a hand's 
breadth. Many republics have risen in the past, 
and some of them flourished long, but sooner or 
later they fell; and the cause most potent in bring- 
ing about their fall was in almost all cases the fact 
that they grew to be governments in the interest of a 
class instead of governments in the interest of all. 
It made no difference as to which class it was that 
thus wrested to its own advantage the governmental 
machinery. It was ultimately as fatal to the cause 
of freedom whether it was the rich who oppressed 
the poor or the poor who plundered the rich. The 
crime of brutal disregard of the rights of others is 
as much a crime when it manifests itself in the shape 
of greed and brutal arrogance on the one side, as 
when it manifests itself in the shape of envy and 
lawless violence on the other. Our aim must be to 
deal justice to each man; no more and no less. This 
purpose must find its expression and support not 
merely in our collective action through the agencies 
of the Government, but in our social attitude. Rich 
man and poor man must alike feel that on the one 
hand they are protected by law and that on the 
other hand they are responsible to the law; for 



And State Papers 465 

each is entitled to be fairly dealt with by his neigh- 
bor and by the State; and if we as citizens of this 
Nation are true to ourselves and to the traditions of 
our forefathers such fair measure of justice shall 
always be dealt to each man; so that as far as we 
can bring it about each shall receive his dues, each 
shall be given the chance to show the stuff there 
is in him, shall be secured against wrong, and in 
turn prevented from wronging others. More than 
this no man is entitled to, and less than this no 
man shall have. 

AT THE LUNCHEON AT RICHMOND, VA., 
OCTOBER 18, 1905 

Mr. May or J Governor, and you, my Hosts: 

One among the very many great Virginians at 
the time when this Nation was born — Patrick Henry 
— said : "We are no longer New Yorkers or New 
Englanders, Pennsylvanians or Virginians, we are 
Americans." And surely, Mr. Mayor, the man 
would be but a poor American who was not touched 
and stirred to the depths by the reception that I 
have met with to-day in this great historic city of 
America. Coming to-day by the statue of Stone- 
wall Jackson, in the city of Lee, I felt what a privi- 
lege it is that I, as an American, have in claiming 
that you yourselves have no more right of kinship 
in Lee and Jackson than I have. I can claim to be 
a middling good American, because my ancestry 
was half Southern and half Northern; I was born in 



466 Presidential Addresses 

the East and I have lived a good while in the 
West — so long in fact that I do not admit that 
any man can be a better Westerner than I am. In 
short, gentlemen, I claim to be neither Northerner 
nor Southerner, neither Easterner nor Westerner, 
but a good American, pure and simple. 

Next only to a man's having worn the blue comes 
the fact of the man's having worn the gray, as 
entitling him to honor in my sight. Last year I 
told General Fitzhugh Lee that I wanted to add to 
my collection of autograph letters of great Ameri- 
cans — Lincoln. Grant, Clay, Jefferson (turning to 
the Governor), your namesake, Andrew Jackson — 
that of General Lee, with his photograph. I got 
from General Fitzhugh Lee a letter of General Lee 
and a photograph of him, handed to me after Gen- 
eral Fitzhugh Lee's death. I was not able to thank 
my old and valued friend, the father, but I put the 
son on my staff; and now I have the grandson of 
General Grant and the grandnephew of General Lee 
and the son of Phil Sheridan on my staff. 

I noticed that the statue of Stonewall Jackson had 
been raised as a gift by certain Englishmen. The 
best biography of General Jackson was by an En- 
glishman, Colonel Henderson. It is a curious and 
rather lamentable fact that he died just as he was 
about to undertake another biography which I had 
earnestly asked him to undertake. I had written 
him urging that he should finish his very remarkable 
military study of Stonewall Jackson by writing a 
military biography of General Lee, and he had 



And State Papers 467 

written me back that he intended to do so. Shortly 
afterward I learned of his death. 

Gentlemen, I can not sufficiently express to you 
my deep appreciation of the way in which you have 
greeted me here to-day. You can not be nearly as 
glad to see me as I am to see you. Let me say once 
more what I said in my more formal address. 
Think of the good fortune that is ours, think of 
the good fortune that is ours as a people in having, 
each of us, whether we in our own persons or 
through our ancestors, wore the blue or the gray, 
the proud right to challenge as our own all of the 
valor, all of the self-devotion, all of the steadfast 
adherence to right as God gave to each man to see 
the right, shown alike by the man who wore the blue 
and by the man who wore the gray in the great 
contest that was waged from '61 to '65. 

AT RALEIGH, N. C, OCTOBER 19, 1905 

My Fellow-Citizens: 

I am glad here at the capital of North Carolina 
to have a chance to greet so many of the sons and 
daughters of your great State. North Carolina's 
part in our history has ever been high and honor- 
able. It was in North Carolina that the Mecklen- 
burg Declaration of Independence foreshadowed the 
course taken in a few short months by the repre- 
sentatives of the thirteen colonies assembled in 
Philadelphia. North Carolina can rightfully say 
that she pointed us the way which led to the forma- 



468 Presidential Addresses 

tion of the new Nation. In the Revolution she did 
many memorable deeds; and the battle of King's 
Mountain marked the turning point of the Revolu- 
tionary War in the South. But I congratulate you 
not only upon your past, but upon your present. I 
congratulate you upon the great industrial activity 
shown in your Commonwealth — an industrial activ- 
ity which, to mention but one thing, has placed this 
State second only to one other in the number of its 
textile factories. You are showing in practical 
fashion your realization of the truth that there must 
be a foundation of material well-being in order 
that any community may make real and rapid 
progress. And I am happy to say that you are in 
addition showing in practical fashion your under- 
standing of the great truth that this material well- 
being, though necessary as a foundation, can only 
be the foundation, and that upon it must be raised 
the superstructure of a higher life, if the Common- 
wealth is to stand as it should stand. More and 
more you are giving care and attention to educa- 
tion; and education means the promotion not only 
of industry, but of that good citizenship which rests 
upon individual rights and upon the recognition by 
each individual that he has duties as well as rights 
— in other words, of that good citizenship which 
rests upon moral integrity and intellectual freedom. 
The man must be decent in his home life, his private 
life, of course ; but this is not by itself enough. The 
man who fails to be honest and brave both in his 
political franchise and in his private business con- 



And State Papers 469 

tributes to political and social anarchy. Self-gov- 
ernment is not an easy thing. Only those communi- 
ties are fit for it in which the average individual 
practices the virtue of self-command, of self-re- 
straint, of wise disinterestedness combined with 
wise self-interest; where the individual possesses 
common-sense, honesty, and courage. 

And now I want to say a word to you on a 
special subject in which all the country is concerned, 
but in which North Carolina has a special concern. 
'The preservation of the forests is vital to the wel- 
fare of every country. China and the Mediterra- 
nean countries offer examples of the terrible effect 
of deforestation upon the physical geography, and 
therefore ultimately upon the national well-being, 
of the nations. One of the most obvious duties 
which our generation owes to the generations that 
are to come after us is to preserve the existing 
forests. The prime difference between civilized 
and uncivilized peoples is that in civilized peoples 
each generation works not only for its own well- 
being, but for the well-being of the generations yet 
unborn, and if we permit the natural resources of 
this land to be destroyed so that we hand over to 
our children a heritage diminished in value we there- 
by prove our unfitness to stand in the forefront of 
civilized peoples. One of the greatest of these 
heritages is our forest wealth. It is the upper alti- 
tudes of the forested mountains that are most 
valuable to the Nation as a whole, especially because 
of their effects upon the water supply. Neither 



470 Presidential Addresses 

State nor Nation can afford to turn these mountains 
over to the unrestrained greed of those who would 
exploit them at the expense of the future. We can 
not afford to wait longer before assuming control, 
in the interest of the public, of these forests; for 
if we do wait, the vested interests of private parties 
in them may become so strongly intrenched that it 
may be a most serious as well as a most expensive 
task to oust them. If the Eastern States are wise, 
then from the Bay of Fundy to the Gulf we will see, 
within the next few years, a policy set on foot 
similar to that so fortunately carried out in the 
high Sierras of the West by the National Govern- 
ment. All the higher Appalachians should be re- 
served, either by the States or by the Nation. I 
much prefer that they should be put under National 
control, but it is a mere truism to say that they will 
not be reserved either by the States or by the Nation 
unless you people of the South show a strong in- 
terest therein. 

Such reserves would be a paying investment, not 
only in protection to many interests, but in dollars 
and cents to the Government. The importance to 
the Southern people of protecting the Southern 
mountain forests is obvious. These forests are the 
best defence against the floods which in the recent 
past have, during a single twelvemonth, destroyed 
property officially valued at nearly twice what it 
would cost to buy the Southern Appalachian Re- 
serve. The maintenance of your Southern water 
powers is not less important than the prevention 



And State Papers 471 

of floods, because if they are injured your manu- 
facturing interests will suffer with them. The per- 
petuation of yoiir forests, which have done so much 
for the South, should be one of the first objects 
of your public men. The two Senators from North 
Carolina have taken an honorable part in this move- 
ment. But I do not think that the people of North 
Carolina or of any other Southern State have 
quite grasped the importance of this movement to 
the commercial development and prosperity of the 
South. 

The position of honor in your parade to-day is 
held by the Confederate veterans. They by their 
deeds reflect credit upon their descendants and upon 
all Americans, both because they did their duty in 
war and because they did their duty in peace. Now 
if the young men, their sons, will not only prove 
that they possess the same power of fealty to an 
ideal, but will also show the efficiency in the ranks 
of industrial life that their fathers, the Confederate 
veterans, showed that they possessed in the ranks of 
war, the industrial future of this great and typ- 
ically American Commonwealth is assured. 

The extraordinary development of industrialism 
during the last half century has been due to several 
causes, but above all to the revolution in the meth- 
ods of transportation and communication; that is, 
to steam and to electricity, to the railroad and the 
telegraph. 

When this Government was founded commerce 
was carried on by essentially the same instruments 



472 Presidential Addresses 

that had been in use not only among civilized, 
but among barbarian, nations, ever since histor)'- 
dawned; that is, by wheeled vehicles drawn by 
animals, by pack trains, and by sailing ships and 
rowboats. On land this meant that commerce went 
in slow, cumbrous, and expensive fashion over 
highways open to all. Normally these highways 
could not compete with water transportation, if 
such was feasible between the connecting points. 

All this has been changed by the development of 
the railroads. Save on the ocean or on lakes so 
large as to be practically inland seas, transport by 
water has wholly lost its old position of superiority 
over transport by land, while instead of the old 
highways open to every one on the same terms, but 
of a very limited usefulness, we have new high- 
ways — railroads — which are owned by private cor- 
porations and which are practically of unlimited, in- 
stead of limited, usefulness. The old laws and old 
customs which were adequate and proper to meet the 
old conditions need radical readjustment in order to 
meet these new conditions. The cardinal features 
in these changed conditions are, first, the fact that 
the new highway, the railway, is, from the com- 
mercial standpoint, of infinitely greater importance 
in our industrial life than was the old highway, the 
wagon road; and, second, that this new highway, 
the railway, is in the hands of private owners, 
whereas the old highway, the wagon road, Avas in 
the hands of the State. The management of the 
new highway, the railroad, or rather of the intricate 



And State Papers 473 

web of railroad lines which cover the country, is a 
task infinitely more difficult, more delicate, and more 
important than the primitively easy task of acquir- 
ing or keeping in order the old highway; so that 
there is properly no analogy whatever between the 
two cases. I do not believe in government owner- 
ship of anything which can with propriety be left 
in private hands, and in particular I should most 
strenuously object to government ownership of 
railroads. But I believe with equal firmness that 
it is out of the question for the Government not to 
exercise a supervisory and regulatory right over 
the railroads; for it is vital to the well-being of the 
public that they should be managed in a spirit of 
fairness and justice toward all the public. Actual 
experience has shown that it is not possible to leave 
the railroads uncontrolled. Such a system, or rather 
such a lack of system, is fertile in abuses of every 
kind, and puts a premium upon unscrupulous and 
ruthless cunning in railroad management ; for there 
are some big shippers and some railroad managers 
who are always willing to take unfair advantage of 
their weaker competitors, and they thereby force 
other big shippers and big railroad men who would 
like to do decently into similar acts of wrong and 
injustice, under penalty of being left behind in the 
race for success. Government supervision is needed 
quite as much in the interest of the big shipper and 
of the railroad man who want to do right as in the 
interest of the small shipper and the consumer. 
Experience has shown that the present laws are 



474 Presidential Addresses 

defective and need amendment. The effort to pro- 
hibit all restraint of competition, whether reasonable 
or unreasonable, is unwise. What we need is to 
have some administrative body with ample power 
to forbid combination that is hurtful to the public, 
and to prevent favoritism to one individual at the 
expense of another. In other words, we want an 
administrative body with the power to secure fair 
and just treatment as among all shippers who use 
the railroads — and all shippers have a right to use 
them. We must not leave the enforcement of such 
a law merely to the Department of Justice; it is 
out of the question for the law department of the 
Government to do what should be purely adminis- 
trative work. The Department of Justice is to stand 
behind and co-operate with the administrative body, 
but the administrative body itself must be given the 
power to do the work and then held to a strict 
accountability for the exercise of that power. The 
delays of the law are proverbial, and what we need 
in this matter is reasonable quickness of action. 

The abuses of which we have a genuine right 
to complain take many shapes. Rebates are not 
now often given openly. But they can be given 
just as effectively in covert form; and private cars, 
terminal tracks, and the like must be brought under 
the control of the commission or administrative 
body which is to exercise supervision by the Gov- 
ernment. But in my judgment the most important 
thing to do is to give to this administrative body 
power to make its findings effective, and this can 



And State Papers 475 

be done only by giving it power, when complaint is 
made of a given rate as being unjust or unreason- 
able, if it finds the complaint proper, then itself to 
fix a maximum rate which it regards as just and 
reasonable, this rate to go into effect practically at 
once, that is within a reasonable time, and to stay 
in effect unless reversed by the courts, I earnestly 
hope that we shall see a law giving this power 
passed by Congress. Moreover, I hope that by law 
power will be conferred upon representatives of the 
Government capable of performing the duty of 
public accountants carefully to examine into the 
books of railroads when so ordered by the Interstate 
Commerce Commission, which should itself have 
power to prescribe what books, and what books 
only, should be kept by railroads. If there is in 
the minds of the Commission any suspicion that a 
certain railroad is in any shape or way giving re- 
bates or behaving improperly, I wish the Commis- 
sion to have power as a matter of right, not as a 
matter of favor, to make a full and exhaustive in- 
vestigation of the receipts and expenditures of the 
railroad, so that any violation or evasion of the law 
may be detected. This is not a revolutionary pro- 
posal on my part, for I only wish the same power 
given in reference to railroads that is now exer- 
cised as a matter of course by the national bank 
examiners as regards national banks. My object 
in giving these additional powers to the administra- 
tive body representing the Government — the Inter- 
state Commerce Commission or whatever it may be 



4/6 Presidential Addresses 

— is primarily to secure a real and not a sham 
control to the Government representatives. The 
American people abhor a sham, and with this ab- 
horrence I cordially sympathize. Nothing is more 
injurious from every standpoint than a law which 
is merely sound and fury, merely pretence, and not 
capable of working out tangible results. I hope to 
see all the power that I think it ought to have 
granted to the Government; but I would far rather 
see only some of it granted, but really granted, 
than see a pretence of granting all in some shape 
that really amounts to nothing. 

It must be understood, sis a matter of course, 
that if this power is granted it is to be exercised 
with wisdom and caution and self-restraint. The 
Interstate Commerce Commissioner or other Gov- 
ernment official who failed to protect a railroad 
that was in the right against any clamor, no matter 
how violent, on the part of the public, would be 
guilty of as gross a wrong as if he corruptly ren- 
dered an improper service to the railroad at the 
expense of the public. When I say a square deal I 
mean a square deal; exactly as much a square deal 
for the rich man as for the poor man ; but no more. 
Let each stand on his merits, receive what is due 
him, and be judged according to his deserts. To 
more he is not entitled, and less he shall not have. 



And State Papers 477 



REMARKS IN PRESENTING THE PATTERSON 
MEMORIAL CUP TO MR. JOHN CHARLES Mc- 
NEILL, IN THE SENATE CHAMBER, RALEIGH, 
N. C, OCTOBER 19, 1905 

Mr. McNeill: 

I feel, and I am sure all good Americans must 
feel, that it is far from enough for us to develop 
merely a great material prosperity. I appreciate, 
and all of us must, that it is indispensable to have 
the material prosperity as a foundation, but if we 
think the foundation is the entire building, we never 
shall rank as among the nations of the world; and 
therefore, it is with peculiar pleasure that I find 
myself playing a small part in a movement, such 
as this, by which one of the thirteen original States, 
one of our great States, marks its sense of proper 
proportion in estimating the achievements of life, 
the achievements of which the Commonwealth has 
a right to be proud. It is a good thing to have the 
sense of historic continuity with the past, which 
we largely get through the efforts of just such 
historic societies as this, through which this cup 
is awarded to you. It is an even better thing to 
try to do what we can to show our pleasure in 
and approval of productive literary work in the 
present. Mr. McNeill, I congratulate you and 
North Carolina. 



478 Presidential Addresses 



AT DURHAM, N. C, OCTOBER 19, 1905 

Mr. Mayor, People of Durham, and Undergrad' 
nates and Graduates of Trinity College: 

I know that the citizens of Durham will not be- 
grudge my making a special address to the repre- 
sentatives of a great typical Southern college, which, 
because it is a typical Southern college, is a typical 
American college. In speaking to-day to you under- 
graduates and graduates of Trinity (and when I 
speak to the graduates of Trinity, I speak to both 
the United States Senators of North Carolina — a 
pretty good showing for one college — ) I speak 
not only to you, but through you to the college 
men of the South. I have been more impressed 
than I can well express by the first article in the 
constitution of Trinity — the article that sets forth 
the aims of the college. Not for your sake (for 
you are familiar with it), but for the sake of all 
college men, North and South, I am going to read 
that article: 

"The aims of Trinity College are to assert a faith 
in the eternal union of knowledge and religion set 
forth in the teachings and character of Jesus Christ, 
the Son of God; to advance learning in all lines of 
truth; to defend scholarship against all false notions 
and ideals; to develop a Christian love of freedom 
and truth; to educate a sincere spirit of tolerance; 
to discourage all partisan and sectarian strife, and 
to render the largest permanent service to the in- 



And State Papers 479 

dividual, the State, the Nation, and the Church. 
Unto these ends shall the affairs of this college al- 
ways be administered." 

I know of no other college which has so nobly 
set forth as the object of its being the principles 
to which every college should be devoted, in what- 
ever portion of this Union it may be placed. You 
stand for all those things for which the scholar must 
stand if he is to render real and lasting service to 
the state. You stand for academic freedom, for the 
right of private judgment, for the duty, more in- 
cumbent upon the scholar than upon any other man, 
to tell the truth as he sees it, to claim for himself 
and give to others the largest liberty in seeking 
after the truth. There must be no coercion of opin- 
ion if collegiate training is to bring forth its full 
fruit. You men of this college, you men through- 
out the South, who have had collegiate training, 
you men throughout the Union, who have had col- 
legiate training, bear a peculiar burden of responsi- 
bility. I want you to have a good time, and I believe 
you do. I believe in play with all my heart. Play 
when you play, but work when you work; and re- 
member that your having gone through college does 
not so much confer a special privilege as it im- 
poses a special obligation on you. We have a right 
to expect a special quality of leadership from the 
men to whom much has been given in the way of 
a colleeiate education. You are not entitled to 
any special privilege, but you are entitled to be 
held to a peculiar accountability; you have earned 



480 Presidential Addresses 

the right to be held peculiarly responsible for what 
you do. Each one of you, if he is worth his salt, 
wishes, when he graduates, to pay some portion of 
the debt due to his alma mater. You have received 
from her, during your years of attendance in her 
halls, certain privileges in the way of scholarship, in 
the way of companionship, which makes it incum- 
bent upon you to repay what you have been given. 
You can not repay that to the college save in one 
way : by the quality of your citizenship as displayed 
in the actual affairs of life you can make it an 
honor to the college to have sent you forth into the 
great world. That is the only way in which you can 
repay to the college what the college has done for 
you. I earnestly hope and believe that you and 
those like you in all the colleges of this land will 
make it evident to the generation that is rising 
that you are fit to take leadership, that the training 
has not been wasted, that you are ready to render 
to the state the kind of service which is invaluable, 
because it can not be bought, because there is no 
price that can be put upon it. We have the right to 
expect from college men not merely disinterested 
service, but intelligent service. The free peoples 
who exercise self-government always have to war 
not merely against the knavish man who deliberately 
does what he knows to be wrong, but against the 
foolish man, who may mean very well, but who in 
actual fact turns out the ally of the other man who 
does not mean well ; and we must depend upon you 
men who have been given special facilities in edu- 



And State Papers 481 

cation to guide our people aright so that they shall 
neither fall into the pit of folly nor into the pit 
of knavery. 

AT GREENSBORO, N. C, OCTOBER. 19, 1905 

My Fellow-Citizens: 

No man could fail to be made a better American 
by traveling through this great historic State of 
yours, where, throughout his journey, he sees place 
after place associated with the historic past, such as 
this city of yours near the Guilford battleground, 
commemorating by its name one of Washington's 
great generals. North Carolina's history has ever 
been high and honorable. It is right that we should 
remember that the mighty deeds of our forefathers 
are not to serve to us as excuses for inaction on 
our part, but as spurs to drive us forward to doing 
our duty in our turn. We respect the son of a 
worthy father if he feels that the fact that his father 
did well makes it incumbent upon him to strive to 
do better. We despise the boy who treats the fact 
that his father counted for something as being an 
excuse for his counting for nothing. So I am glad 
to note the care that you in this State are giving to 
education. The greatness of the country in the 
time immediately to come will depend upon the way 
in which the young generation of to-day is trained 
to citizenship in the future. I am sorry to say that 
there is probably no one here who is not acquainted 
with some kindly, well-meaning, and most foolish 
6— Vol. XVI 



482 Presidential Addresses 

father or mother who, because life has been hard 
with him or her in the past, takes the view that the 
children are not to have to face any difficulties. The 
worst thing that you can do for a child is to bring 
up him or her to dodge difficulties. The children 
who will rise up to call their parents blessed are 
those whom the parents have trained to meet diffi- 
culties, not to shirk them; to overcome obstacles, not 
to get out of the way for them. Neither the indi- 
vidual nor the community is worth anything if it 
seeks after that which is easy. The thing to do is 
to find out what is worth doing and do it — to show 
the manly quality that allows of this being done. 

AT CHARLOTTE, N. C, OCTOBER 19, 190H 

My Felloiv-Citisetis: 

I have enjoyed more than I can say passing 
through this great State to-day. I entered your 
borders a pretty good American, and I leave them 
a better American. I have rejoiced in the symptoms 
of your abounding material prosperity. I am here in 
a great centre of cotton manufacturing. Within a 
radius of a hundred miles of this city probably half 
of the cotton manufacturing of the United States 
is done. I realize to the full, as every good citizen 
should realize, that there must be a foundation of 
material prosperity upon which to build the wel- 
fare of State or Nation; but I realize also, as every 
good citizen should, that material prosperity, ma- 
terial well-being, can never be anything but the 



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And State Papers 483 

foundation. It is the indispensable foundation; but 
if we do not raise upon it the superstructure of a 
higher citizenship then we fail in bringing this 
country to the level to which it shall and will be 
brought. 

So, though I congratulate you upon what you 
have done in the way of material growth, I con- 
gratulate you even more upon the great historic 
memories of your State. It is not so far from here 
that the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence 
was made; the declaration that pointed out the path 
along which the thirteen united colonies trod but a 
few months later. As I got off the train here I 
was greeted by one citizen of North Carolina (and I 
know that neither the Governor, the Mayor, nor 
the Senators will blame me for what I am going to 
say) whose greeting pleased and touched me more 
than the greeting of any man could have touched 
me. I was greeted by the widow of Stonewall 
Jackson. We, of this united country, have a right 
to challenge, as part of the heritage of honor and 
glory of each American, the renown bought by all 
Americans who fought in the Civil War, whether 
they wore the blue or whether they wore the gray. 
The valor shown alike by the men of the North 
and by the men of the South, as they battled for the 
right as God gave them to see the right, is now 
part of what we all of us keep with pride. It was 
my good fortune to appoint to West Point the 
grandson of Stonewall Jackson. As I came up 
your streets I saw a monument raised to a fellow- 



484 Presidential Addresses 

soldier of mine who fell in the Spanish War at 
Santiag-o — Shipp, of North Carolina. We, who 
went to war in '98, had the opportunity only to 
fight in a small war, and all that we would claim 
is that we hope we showed a spirit not entirely un- 
worthy of the men who faced the mighty and ter- 
rible days from '61 to '65. If there again comes 
a war I know I can count on the men of the Na- 
tional Guard, like my escort, because the memory of 
what your fathers did will make you ashamed not 
to rise level to the demands of the new time as they 
rose level to the demands of their time. 

In civil life each generation has its problems. The 
tremendous industrial development of the past half 
century, the very development which has produced 
cities such as this, has brought great problems with 
it; problems connected with corporations; problems 
connected with labor ; problems connected with both 
the accumulation and the distribution of wealth. 
The problems are new, but the spirit in which we 
must approach their solution is old. We must face 
the work we have to do as our fathers faced their 
work, if we wish to be successful. This is an age 
of organization, the organization of capital, the or- 
ganization of labor. Each type of organization 
should be welcomed when it does good, and fear- 
lessly opposed when it does evil. Our aim should 
be to strive to keep the reign of justice alive in this 
country so that we shall above all things avoid the 
chance of ever dividing on the lines that separate 
one class from another, one occupation from an- 



And State Papers 485 

other. The man who would preach to either wage- 
worker or capitaHst that the other was his foe 
is a bad citizen and faithless American. We can 
afford to divide along lines that represent honest 
difference of opinion, but we can not afford to 
divide on the fundamental lines of cleavage that 
separate good citizens from bad citizens. We must 
remember, if we intend to keep this Republic in its 
position of headship among the nations of man- 
kind, that we can never afford to deviate from the 
old American doctrine of treating each man on his 
worth as a man, of paying heed, not to whether he 
is rich or poor, but only to whether he acts as a 
decent citizen. 

AT ROSWELL, GA., OCTOBER 20, 1905 

Senator Clay; and you, My Friends, zvhoin it is 
hard for me not to call My Neighbors, for I feel 
as if you zvere: 

You can have no idea of how much it means to 
me to come back to Roswell, to the home of my 
mother and of my mother's people, and to see the 
spot which I already know so well from what 
my mother and my aunt told me. It has been 
exactly as if I were revisiting some old place of 
my childhood. 

I hardly like to say how deeply my heart is moved 
by coming back here among you. Among the earliest 
recollections I have as a child is hearing from my 
mother and my aunt (Miss Annie Bulloch, she then 



486 Presidential Addresses 

was) about Roswell; of how the Pratts, and Kings, 
and Dunwoodys, and Bullochs came here first to 
settle; about the old homestead, the house on the 
hill; about the Chattahoochee; about all kinds and 
sorts of incidents that would not interest you, but 
interested me a great deal when I was a child. I 
wish I could spend hours here to look all through 
and see the different places about which I have 
heard all kinds of incidents. All those anecdotes, 
looking back now, I can see taught me an enormous 
amount, perhaps all the more because they were not 
intended to teach anything. I think we are very 
apt to learn most when neither we nor the people 
talking to us intend to teach anything. All those 
stories of the life of those days taught me what a real 
home life, a real neighbor life, was and should be. 
Looking back now at what I learned through those 
stories of the childhood of my mother, my aunts, 
my uncles, I can understand why the boys and girls 
of the Roswell of that time grew up to be men 
and women who were good servants of the com- 
munity, who were good husbands, good fathers, 
good wives and mothers; how it was that they 
learned to do their duty aright in peace and in 
war also. 

It is my very great good fortune to have the 
right to claim that my blood is half Southern and 
half Northern; and I would deny the right of any 
man here to feel a greater pride in the deeds of 
every Southerner than I feel. Of the children, the 
brothers and sisters of my mother who were born 



And State Papers 487 

and brought up in that house on the hill over there, 
my two uncles afterward entered the Confederate 
service, and served in the Confederate Navy. One, 
the younger man, served on the "Alabama" as the 
youngest officer aboard her. He was captain of 
one of her broadside 32-pounders in her final fight, 
and when at the very end the "Alabama" was sink- 
ing, and the "Kearsarge" passed under her stern and 
came up along the side that had not been engaged 
hitherto, my uncle, Irving Bulloch, shifted his gun 
from one side to the other and fired the last two shots 
fired from the "Alabama." The other, the elder, 
James Dunwoody Bulloch, was an admiral in the 
Confederate service. Of all the people whom I 
have ever met he was the one that came nearest to 
that beautiful creation of Thackeray — Colonel 
Newcome. 

Men and women, don't you think that I have the 
ancestral right to claim a proud kinship with those 
who showed their devotion to duty as they saw the 
duty, whether they wore the gray or whether they 
wore the blue ? All Americans who are worthy the 
name feel an equal pride in the valor of those who 
fought on one side or the other, provided only that 
each did with all his strength and soul and mind 
his duty as it was given him to see his duty. 



488 Presidential Addresses 



AT PIEDMONT PARK, ATLANTA, GA., 
OCTOBER 20, 1905 

Governor; Mr. Mayor; and you, My Valued Friend, 
Senator Clay; and you, Men and Women of 
Georgia; Men and Women of my Mother's State; 
My Fellozv-Citisens and Fellow- Americans. • 

I can not too strongly express the feeling of grati- 
tude I have for the reception given to me to-day. 
I want to give you a word of explanation as to what 
the Senator last said. The Senator said quite truly 
that when I was in doubt as to the capacity or 
honesty of any man I was seeking to appoint, or 
the wisdom of any policy, I was in the habit of go- 
ing to him. I will tell you why : because the Sen- 
ator does what I hope I try to do and what I have 
preached. Whenever I go to the Senator I know I 
get a square deal. As I said once before to-day, 
the Senator comes in that group of men upon whose 
advice I, like every other American President who 
wishes to do what is best for the people, must rely. 
If you will come down to bed-rock fact, the party 
differences are mighty small compared to the com- 
mon interests that all of us have as Americans. 
On the great majority of questions, on almost all 
the important questions that come up, what you 
want in public life is to find the public man who 
cares for the interests of the people, and who not 
only cares for them, but has the sense to know how 
to make that care effective. I have found that I 



And State Papers 489 

could consult Senator Clay with absolute freedom 
and absolute confidence in his good faith and sincere 
desire to do what was best for our people. All I 
had to do was to convince him that I was right. 
I was not always successful in convincing him; but 
if I did convince him I knew he would stand up for 
what he thought right. 

Before speaking to all of you here together let 
me say just one word suggested by the generous and 
unexpected gift presented to me by the represent- 
atives of organized labor here in Atlanta. I am 
speaking in this mighty city, an industrial centre of 
the Union, in a great agricultural State. It is of 
course a mere truism to say that if the men who till 
the soil and the wage-workers are well off the rest 
of the people will be well off; and it is the part of 
wise statesmanship to try primarily to do all that 
can be done for the farmers, the men who live on 
the land, who work on the land, and for the wage- 
workers, the men who actually do the work with 
their hands. It has been my good fortune to be an 
honorary member of a union of wage-workers. 
There are few honors that I have ever had of 
which I am prouder than that. I believe in organ- 
ized labor; and I will do all that in me lies for the 
wage-worker, except to do wrong, and if I was 
willing to do that I would not be his true friend or 
any one else's. 

Having spoken to the farmer and the wage- 
worker, let me say just one word to the men of the 
great Civil War, to the men who fought from '61 



49© Presidential Addresses 

to '65. I am sure that you would be pleased if you 
could hear the applause that greets, in any audience 
in the North, any allusion to the valor, the self-devo- 
tion, the fealty to right as God gave them to see 
the right, of the men who wore the gray in the great 
contest forty years ago. We are indeed thrice 
fortunate as a people; because to us it has been 
given alone among peoples in modern times to pass 
through one of the most terrible contests of history ; 
and, now that the bitterness has died away, to 
cherish as our most precious heritage the memories 
bequeathed to us alike by the men in blue and the 
men in gray, alike by those who followed Grant and 
those who followed Lee, because each man showed 
his readiness to sacrifice all, to sacrifice life itself, 
upon the altar of duty as he saw it. 

It is eminently appropriate that the represent- 
atives of organized labor should be called upon to 
play a i3art in any ceremonies iii a great industrial 
city like this; and that incident alone would justify 
my choice of subjects to-day. 

Here in this great industrial centre, in this city 
which is a typical Southern city, and therefore a 
typical American city, it is natural to consider cer- 
tain phases of the many-sided industrial problem 
which this generation has to solve. In this world 
of ours it is practically impossible to get success of 
any kind on a large scale without paying something 
for it. The exceptions to the rule are too few to 
warrant our paying heed to them; and as a rule it 
may be said that something must be paid as an 



And State Papers 491 

offset for everything we get and for everything we 
accompHsh. This is notably true of our industrial 
life. The problems which we of America have to 
face to-day are very serious, but we will do wxll to 
remember that after all they are only part of the 
price which we have to pay for the triumphs we 
have won, for the high position to which we have 
attained. If we were a backward and stationary 
country we would not have to face these problems 
at all ; but I think that most of us are agreed that to 
be backward and stationary would be altogether too 
heavy a price to pay for the avoidance of the 
problems in question. There are no labor troubles 
where there is no work to be done by labor. There 
are no troubles about corporations where the pov- 
erty of the community is such that it is not worth 
while to form corporations. There is no difficulty 
in regulating railroads where the resources of a 
region are so few that it does not pay to build rail- 
roads. There are many excellent people who shake 
their heads over the difficulties that as a nation we 
now have to face; but their melancholy is not war- 
ranted save in a very partial degree, for most of 
the things of which they complain are the inevitable 
accompaniments of the growth and greatness of 
which we are proud. 

Now, I do not wish to be misunderstood. I 
do not for one moment mean to say that there are 
not many and serious evils with which we have to 
grapple, or that there are not unhealthy signs in 
the body social and politic; but I do mean to say 



492 Presidential Addresses 

that while we must not show a foolish optimism we 
must no less beware of a mere blind pessimism. 
There is every reason why we should be vigilant in 
searching out what is wrong and unflinchingly res- 
olute in striving to remedy it. But at the same 
time we must not blind ourselves to what has been 
accomplished for good, and above all we must not 
lose our heads and become either hysterical or 
rancorous in grappling with what is bad. 

Take such a question, for instance, as the ques- 
tion, or rather the group of questions, connected 
with the growth of corporations in this country. 
This growth has meant, of course, the growth of 
individual fortunes. Undoubtedly the growth of 
wealth in this country has had some very unfortu- 
nate accompaniments, but it seems to me that much 
the worst damage that people of wealth can do the 
rest of us is not any actual physical harm, but the 
awakening in our breasts of either the mean vice of 
worshiping mere wealth, and the man of mere 
wealth, for the wealth's sake, or the equally mean 
vice of viewing with rancorous envy and hatred 
the men of wealth merely because they are men of 
wealth. Envy is, of course, merely a kind of 
crooked admiration; and we often see the very 
man who in public is most intemperate in his de- 
nunciation of wealth, in his private life most eager 
to obtain wealth, in no matter what fashion, and 
at no matter what moral cost. 

Undoubtedly there is need of regulation by the 
Government, in the interest of the public, of these 



And State Papers 493 

great corporations which in modern life have shown 
themselves to be the most efficient business imple- 
ments, and which are, therefore, the implements 
commonly employed by the owners of large for- 
tunes. The corporation is the creature of the State. 
It should always be held accountable to some sov- 
ereign, and this accountability should be real and 
not sham. Therefore, in my judgment, all cor- 
porations doing an interstate business, and this 
means the great majority of the largest corporations, 
should be held accountable to the Federal Govern- 
ment, because their accountability should be co- 
extensive with their field of action. But most cer- 
tainly we should not strive to prevent or limit 
corporate activity. We should strive to secure such 
effective supervision over it, such power of regula- 
tion over it, as to enable us to guarantee that its 
activity will be exercised only in ways beneficial to 
the public. The unwisdom of any well-meaning but 
misguided effort to check corporate activity has been 
shown in striking fashion in recent years by our 
experience in the Philippines and in Porto Rico. 
Our national legislators very properly determined 
that the islands should not be exploited by ad- 
venturers without regard to the interests of the 
people of the islands themselves. But unfortunately 
in their zeal to prevent the islands from being im- 
properly exploited they took measures of such sever- 
ity as to seriously, and in some respects vitally, to 
hamper and retard the development of the islands. 
There is nothing that the islands need more than 



494 Presidential Addresses 

to have their great natural resources developed, and 
these resources can be developed only by the 
abundant use of capital, which, of course, will not 
be put into them unless on terms sufficiently ad- 
vantageous to offer prospects of good remuneration. 
We have made the terms not merely hard, but often 
prohibitory, with the result that American capital 
goes into foreign countries, like Mexico, and is 
there used with immense advantage to the country 
in its development, while it can not go into our own 
possessions or be used to develop the lands under 
our own flag. The chief sufferers by this state of 
things are the people of the islands themselves. 

It is impossible too strongly to insist upon what 
ought to be the patent fact, that it is not only in the 
interest of the people of wealth themselves, but in 
our interest, in the interest of the public as a 
whole, that they should be treated fairly and justly; 
that if they show exceptional business ability they 
should be given exceptional reward for that abil- 
ity. The tissues of our industrial fabric are inter- 
woven in such complex fashion that what strength- 
ens or weakens part also strengthens or weakens 
the whole. If we penalize industry we will ourselves 
in the end have to pay a considerable part of the 
penalty. If we make conditions such that the men 
of exceptional ability are able to secure marked 
benefits by the exercise of that ability, then we shall 
ourselves benefit somewhat. It is our interest no 
less than our duty to treat them fairly. On the other 
hand, it is no less their interest to treat us fairly — 



And State Papers 495 

by "us" I mean the great body of the people, the 
men of moderate or small fortunes, the farmers, the 
wage-workers, the smaller business men and profes- 
sional men. The man of great means who achieves 
fortune by crooked methods does wrong to the 
whole body politic. But he not merely does wrong 
to, he becomes a source of imminent danger to, 
other men of great means; for his ill-won success 
tends to arouse a feeling of resentment, which if it 
becomes inflamed fails to differentiate between the 
men of wealth who have done decently and the men 
of wealth who have not done decentlv. 

The conscience of our people has been deeply 
shocked by the revelations made of recent years as 
to the way in which some of the great fortunes 
have been obtained and used, and there is, I think, 
in the minds of the people at large a strong feeling 
that a serious effort must be made to put a stop to 
the cynical dishonesty and contempt for right which 
have thus been revealed. I believe that something, 
and I hope that a good deal, can be done by law 
to remedy the state of things complained of. But 
when all that can be has thus been done, there will 
yet remain much which the law can not touch, and 
which must be reached by the force of public opinion. 
There are men who do not divide actions merely 
into those that are honest and those that are not, 
but create a third subdivision — that of law honesty; 
of that kind of honesty which consists in keeping 
clear of the penitentiary. It is hard to reach astute 
men of this type save by making them feel the 



496 Presidential Addresses 

weight of an honest pubhc indignation. But this 
indignation, if it is to be effective, must be intel- 
ligent. It is, of course, to the great advantage of 
dishonest men of wealth if they are denounced, not 
for being dishonest, but for being wealthy, and if 
they are denounced in terms so overstrained and 
hysterical as to invite a reaction in their favor. We 
can not afford in this country to draw the distinc- 
tion as between rich man and poor man. The dis- 
tinction upon which we must insist is the vital, deep- 
lying, unchangeable distinction between the honest 
man and the dishonest man, between the man who 
acts decently and fairly by his neighbor and with 
a quick sense of his obligations, and the man who 
acknowledges no internal law save that of his own 
will and appetite. Above all we should treat with 
a peculiarly contemptuous abhorrence the man who 
in a spirit of sheer cynicism debauches either our 
business life or our political life. There are men 
who use the phrase "practical politics" as merely a 
euphemism for dirty politics, and it is such men who 
have brought the word "politician" into discredit. 
There are other men who use the noxious phrase 
"business is business" as an excuse and justifica- 
tion for every kind of mean and crooked work; and 
these men make honest Americans hang their heads 
because of some of the things they do. It is the 
duty of every honest patriot to rebuke in emphatic 
fashion alike the politician who does not understand 
that the only kind of "practical politics" which a 
nation can with safety tolerate is that kind which 



And State Papers ^ 497 

we know as clean politics, and that we are as severe 
in our condemnation of the business trickery which 
succeeds as of the business trickery which fails. 
The scoundrel who fails can never by any possibility 
be as dangerous to the community as the scoundrel 
who succeeds; and of all the men in the country, 
the worst citizens, those who should excite in our 
minds the most contemptuous abhorrence, are the 
men who have achieved great wealth, or any other 
form of success, in any save a clean and straightfor- 
ward manner. 

So much for the general subject of industrialism. 
Now, just a word in reference to one of the great 
staples of this country, which is peculiarly a staple 
of the Southern States. Of course I mean cotton. 
I am glad to see diversifications of industry in the 
South, the growth of manufactures as well as the 
growth of agriculture, and the growing growth of 
diversification of crops in agriculture. Neverthe- 
less, it will always be true that in certain of the 
Southern States cotton will be the basis of the 
wealth, the mainstay of prosperity in the future as 
in the past. The cotton crop is of enormous conse- 
quence to the entire country. It was the cotton 
crop of the South that brought four hundred million 
dollars of foreign gold into the United States last 
year, turning the balance of trade in our favor. The 
soil and climate of the South are such that she en- 
joys a practical monopoly in the production of raw 
cotton. No other clothing material can be accepted 
as a substitute for cotton. I welcome the action of 



498 Presidential Addresses 

the planters in forming a cotton association, and 
every assistance shall be given them that can be 
given them by the National Government. More- 
over, we must not forget that the work of the 
manufacturer in the South supplements the work of 
the planter. It is an advantage to manufacture the 
raw material here and sell to the world the finished 
goods. Under proper methods of distribution it 
may well be doubted whether there can be such a 
thing as overproduction of cotton. Last year's crop 
was nearly fourteen million bales, and yet the price 
was sufficiently high to give a handsome profit to 
the planter. The consumption of cotton increases 
each year, and new uses are found for it. 

This leads me to a matter of our foreign rela- 
tions which directly concerns the cotton planter. 
At present our market for cotton is largely in China. 
The boycott of our goods in China during the past 
year was especially injurious to the cotton manu- 
facturers. This Government is doing, and will con- 
tinue to do, all it can to put a stop to the boycott. 
But there is one measure to be taken toward this 
end in which I shall need the assistance of the 
Congress. We must insist firmly on our rights ; and 
China must beware of persisting in a course of con- 
duct to which we can not honorably submit. But 
we in our turn must recognize our duties exactly 
as we insist upon our rights. We can not go into 
the international court of equity unless we go in 
with clean hands. We can not expect China to do 
us justice unless we do China justice. The chief 



And State Papers 499 

cause in bringing about the boycott of our goods 
in China was undoubtedly our attitude toward the 
Chinese who come to this country. This attitude of 
ours does not justify the action of the Chinese in 
the boycott, and especially some of the forms which 
that action has taken. But the fact remains that in 
the past we have come short of our duty toward the 
people of China. It is our clear duty, in the inter- 
est of our own wage-workers, to forbid all Chinese 
of the coolie class — that is, laborers, skilled or un- 
skilled — from coming here. The greatest of all 
duties is national self-preservation, and the most 
important step in national self-preservation is to pre- 
serve in every way the well-being of the wage- 
worker. I am convinced that the well-being of 
our wage-workers demands the exclusion of the 
Chinese coolies, and it is therefore our duty to ex- 
clude them, just as it would be the duty of China 
to exclude American laboring men if they became 
in any way a menace to China by entering into her 
country. The right is reciprocal, and in our last 
treaty with China it was explicitly recognized as 
inhering in both nations. But we should not only 
operate the law with as little harshness as possible, 
but we should show every courtesy and considera- 
tion and every encouragement to all Chinese who 
are not of the laboring class to come to this country. 
Every Chinese traveler or student, business man or 
professional man, should be given the same right 
of entry to, and the same courteous treatment in, 
this country as are accorded to the student or trav- 



500 Presidential Addresses 

eler, the business man or professional man, of any 
other nation. Our laws and treaties should be so 
framed as to guarantee to all Chinamen, save of 
the excepted cooHe class, the same right of entry 
to this country and the same treatment while here as 
is guaranteed to citizens of any other nation. By 
executive action I am as rapidly as possible putting 
a stop to the abuses which have grown up during 
many years in the administration of this law. I 
can do a good deal, and will do a good deal, even 
without the action of the Congress; but I can not 
do all that should be done unless such action is 
taken, and that action I most earnestly hope will be 
taken. It is needed in our own interest and espe- 
cially in the interest of the Pacific Slope and of the 
South Atlantic and Gulf States; for it is short- 
sighted indeed for iis to permit foreign competi- 
tors to drive us from the great markets of China. 
Moreover, the action I ask is demanded by consider- 
ations that are higher than mere interest, for I ask 
it in the name of what is just and right. America 
should take the lead in establishing international 
relations on the same basis of honest and upright 
dealing which we regard as essential as between 
man and man. 

AT THE LUNCHEON OF THE PIEDMONT CLUB, 
ATLANTA, GA., OCTOBER 20, 1905 

Mr. Graves, and My Hosts: 

Surely it must be almost unnecessary for me to say 
not alone how I have enjoyed to-day, but how deeply 



And State Papers 501 

touched and moved I have been at your reception 
of me, at Georgia's reception of its descendant. I 
told the Governor I had a kind of ancestral rever- 
sionary right to his chair; because the first revolu- 
tionary President of Georgia was my great-great- 
grandfather, Archibald Bulloch, after whom one of 
my boys is named. No man could meet with such a 
reception as you have given me to-day, no man could 
see your city, could see your people, could address 
such an audience as I have addressed, and not be a 
better citizen afterward. It means a great deal to 
me to meet all of you personally, with all that you 
gentlemen typify in the world of politics, the world 
of business, and that world of ethical effort which 
can alone render either business or politics noble. 

Now, I am going to very illy repay the courtesy 
with which I have been greeted, by causing for a 
minute or two acute discomfort to a man of whom 
I am very fond — Uncle Remus. Presidents may 
come and Presidents may go; but Uncle Remus 
"stays put." Georgia has done a great many things 
for the Union; but she has never done more than 
when she gave Mr. Joel Chandler Harris to Ameri- 
can literature. I suppose he is one of those literary 
people who insist that art should have nothing to 
do with morals, and will condemn me as a Philistine 
for not agreeing with them ; but I want to say that 
one of the great reasons why I like what he has 
written is because after reading it I rise up with the 
purpose of being a better man, a man who is bound 
to strive to do what is in him for the cause of 



502 Presidential Addresses 

decency and for die cause of righteousness. Gentle- 
men, I feel too strongly to indulge in any language 
of mere compliment, of mere flattery. Where Mr. 
Harris seems to me to have done one of his greatest 
services is that he has written what exalts the South 
in the mind of every man who reads it, and yet 
what has not even a flavor of bitterness toward any 
other part of the Union. There is not an Ameri- 
can anywhere who can read Mr. Harris's stories — I 
am not speaking at the moment of his wonderful 
folk tales, but of his stories — who does not rise up 
a better citizen for having read them, who does not 
rise up with a more earnest desire to do his part in 
solving American problems aright. I can not too 
strongly express the obligations I am under to ]\Ir. 
Harris; and one of those obligations is to feel as 
a principle that it is my duty (which if I have trans- 
gressed, I have not transgressed knowingly) never 
as an American to say anything that could be con- 
strued into an attack upon any portion of our com- 
mon country. 

Let me say one word on something entirely dif- 
ferent, suggested by our talk here to-day. In speak- 
ing over with several of the gentlemen round about 
me their experiences in the Georgia Legislature and 
some of my experiences in the New York Legisla- 
ture, the thing that struck me the most was the 
truth of Abraham Lincoln's saying that "there is a 
deal of human nature in mankind." The enemies 
we have to fight, the friends upon whom we have 
to rely, are substantially the same, in whatever part 



And State Papers 503 

of the Union we live. We have to war against the 
same evil tendencies in our own souls; we have to 
strive to give expression to the same aspirations 
toward righteousness, toward honor. In doing this 
there are two things that are necessary above all 
others. In the first place, the fearless condemna- 
tion of what is wrong; the standing up for what is 
decent, for what is straight; the refusing to palter 
with the eternal principles of truth ; refusing to par- 
don any man who for any reason lapses from the 
law that teaches that the man who is to be of service 
must obey the great rule of truth, of courage, and 
of honor. In the second place, to remember that 
second only in iniquity, second only in the injury 
done to the Republic, to the wrong of the man who 
acts corruptly, comes the wrong of the man who 
wantonly accuses the honest man of corruption. 
Thief is an ugly name, because it denotes an ugly 
thing ; liar is as ugly a name as thief and as little to 
be desired by any right-thinking man; and either 
to steal or to lie marks the man as unfit for associ- 
ation with decent men and an enemy of all that is 
best and most upright in our political life. Too 
often we have seen public sentiment condoning the 
acts both of the thief and the liar (I am using ugly 
words, gentlemen, and I am using them because I 
wish to denote in the sharpest and in the most ugly 
fashion ugly attributes), when these acts are shifted 
a little so that they can be hidden under other names. 
The man who in political life, the man who in busi- 
ness life, by chicanery or by corruption in any shape 



504 Presidential Addresses 

or form, does or achieves what could not be done 
or achieved save by or through chicanery or cor- 
ruption, stands on the same level with the man who 
in court is convicted of theft. The man who on no 
grounds, or on insufficient grounds, attacks the hon- 
est and upright man, whether in public or private life, 
as corrupt; who seeks to persuade men to believe 
that he is corrupt; who accuses him of corruption; 
this man stands on the same evil eminence of infamy 
with the corruptionist himself; and he is himself the 
greatest ally of the corruptionist he professes to 
denounce. The Republic will go down, our dem- 
ocratic institutions will be a failure, if the moral 
sense of the people grows so blunted that they will 
accept "cinything else, whether brilliancy or loyalty 
of party service, or any other deed or quality, as an 
offset to corruption. The minute that there arises 
a question of corruption in public life, if we have 
any sense of loyalty to the Union and its institutions, 
all political lines vanish at once. We can afford to 
consider in a public servant nothing but the question 
of his honesty or dishonesty when once that ques- 
tion is raised. 

The surest way of blunting the public conscience 
in dealing with corruption is to confuse the public 
mind as to who is corrupt and who is not. There 
are plenty of men with whom we differ radically, 
plenty of men of whom we radically disapprove, 
as to whom it is right and necessary that we should 
express that disapprobation ; but beware of express- 
ing it in terms that imply moral reprobation. When 



And State Papers 505 

we express moral reprobation let us be sure that we 
know the facts and then that we say only exactly 
what is true. To accuse an honest man of being 
a thief is to gladden the heart of every thief in the 
Nation. In our legislative bodies, in our National 
Congress, if you find that any man is corrupt, you 
are not to be excused if you do not hunt him out 
of public life, whether he is of one party or whether 
he is of another. But if you accuse, either specifi- 
cally or in loose general declamation, all men of 
being corruptionists, you by just so much weaken 
your own strength when it becomes necessary to 
assail the genuine corruptionist. So far from ask- 
ing that you be lenient in your judgment of any 
public man, I hold that you are recreant to duty if 
you are thus lenient. Do not be lenient, but do 
be just. If you dislike a man's policy, say so. 
If you think he is acting in a way so misguided 
that he will bring ruin to the State or Nation, say 
so. But do not accuse him of corruption unless 
you know that he is corrupt; and if you know that 
he is corrupt, if you have good reason to believe 
that he is corrupt, then refuse under any plea of 
party expediency, under any consideration, to refrain 
from smiting him with the sword of the Lord and 
of Gideon. 

AT JACKSONVILLE, FLA., OCTOBER 21, 1905 

My Fellozv-Citizens: 

Here in Florida, the first of the Gulf States which 

I have visited upon this trip, I wish to say a special 
7—\oh. XVI 



5o6 Presidential Addresses 

word about the Panama Canal. I believe that the 
canal will be of great benefit to all of our people, but 
most of all to the States of the South Atlantic, the 
Gulf and the Pacific Slope. When completed the 
canal will stand as a monument to this Nation ; for it 
will be the greatest engineering feat ever yet accom- 
plished in the world. It will be a good thing 
for the world as a whole, and for the people 
of the Isthmus and of the northern portions of 
South America in particular. Because of our espe- 
cial interest in it, and because of the position we 
occupy on this hemisphere, it is a matter of especial 
pride to us that our Nation, the American Nation, 
should have undertaken the performance of this 
world duty. A body of the most eminent engineers in 
the world, both Americans and foreigners, has been 
summoned to advise as to the exact type of canal 
which should be built. At no distant date I hope to 
be able to announce what their advice is, and also 
the action taken upon their advice. Meanwhile the 
work is already well under way, and has advanced 
sufficiently far to enable me to announce with cer- 
tainty that it can surely be accomplished, and prob- 
ably at rather less expense than was anticipated. But 
upon the last point, as well as upon the question of 
time, no positive statement can be made until the 
report of the commission of engineers as to the ex- 
act type of canal has been received. The work is as 
difficult as it is important; and it is of course in- 
evitable that from time to time difficulties will occur 
and checks be encountered. Whenever such is the 



And State Papers 507 

case the men of little faith at home will lose that 
little faith, and the critics who confound hysteria 
with emphasis will act after their kind. But our 
people as a whole possess not only faith, but reso- 
lution, and are of too virile fibre to be swept one 
way or the other by mere sensationalism. No check 
that may come will be of more than trivial and 
passing consequence, will inflict any permanent dam- 
age, or cause any serious delay. The work can be 
done, is being done, and will be done. What has 
already been accomplished is a guaranty as to the 
future. 

When any such work is undertaken there are al- 
ways many mere adventurers who flock to where it 
is going on, and many men who think they are ad- 
venturers, but who are in reality either weak or 
timid, follow in their footsteps. Some of the first 
class will now and then cause trouble in one way or 
another. But every care will be taken to detect any 
misdeed on their part and to punish them as soon as 
the misdeed is detected. As for the second class, they 
will cause trouble chiefly by losing heart, returning 
home, or writing home, and raising a cry that they 
are not happy, and that the conditions of life are not 
easy, or that the work is not being done as they 
think it ought to be done. Now these men stand 
just as the stragglers and laggards stand who are 
ever to be found in the rear of even a victorious 
army. The veterans of the Civil War who are here 
present will tell you that the very rear of an army, 
even when it is victorious, is apt to look and behave 



5o8 Presidential Addresses 

as if the victory were defeat. And just the same 
thing is true in any great enterprise in civil life; 
there are always weaklings who get trampled down 
or lose heart, and there are always people who listen 
to their complaints. They amount to nothing one 
way or the other, so far as achieving results is con- 
cerned ; and their complaints and outcries need never 
detain us. 

I call your attention specifically to the matter of 
health on the Isthmus. The climate was supposed 
to be deadly, and yellow fever, in especial, was sup- 
posed to be epidemic. Yet since we have assumed 
control there has been far less yellow fever than in 
our own country. The administration is steadily 
becoming better and more effective, from the hy- 
gienic as well as from every other standpoint. The 
work of building the canal is a great American 
work, in which the whole American people are inter- 
ested. It has nothing to do with parties or partisan- 
ship, and is being carried on with absolute disregard 
to all merely political considerations; with regard 
only to efficiency, honesty, and economy. 

The digging of the canal will, of course, greatly 
increase our interest in the Caribbean Sea. It will 
be our duty to police the canal, both in the interest 
of other nations and in our own interest. To do 
this it is, of course, indispensable to have an effi- 
cient navy (and I am happy to say that we are well 
on our way toward having one), and also to pos- 
sess, as we already possess, certain strategic points 
to control the approach to the canal. In addition it 



And State Papers 509 

is urgently necessary that the insular and continental 
countries within or bordering upon the Caribbean 
Sea should be able to secure fair dealing and or- 
derly liberty within their own borders. I need not 
say that the United States not only has no purpose 
of aggression upon any republic, continental or in- 
sular, to the south of us, but has the friendliest 
feeling toward them, and desires nothing save their 
progress and prosperity. We do not wish another 
foot of territory; and I think our conduct toward 
Cuba is a guaranty that this is our genuine attitude 
toward all our sister republics. If ever we should 
have to interfere in the affairs of any of our neigh- 
bors it would only be when we found it impossible 
longer to refrain from doing so without serious 
damage following; and even in such case it would 
only be with the sincere and effective purpose to 
make our interference beneficial to the peoples con- 
cerned. Of course, occupying the position we do, 
occasions may now and then arise when we can not 
refrain from such interference, save under penalty 
of seeing some other strong nation undertake the 
duty which we neglect; and such neglect would be 
unfortunate from more than one standpoint. Where- 
ever possible we should gladly give any aid we can 
to a weaker sister republic which is endeavoring to 
achieve stability and prosperity. It is an ungen- 
erous thing for us to refuse such aid ; and it is foolish 
not to give it in a way that will make it really ef- 
fective, and therefore of direct benefit to the people 
concerned — and of indirect benefit to us, simply be- 



510 Presidential Addresses 

cause it is a benefit to them. In the last resort, ana 
only in the last resort, it may occasionally be neces- 
sary to interfere by exercising what is virtually an 
international police power, if only to avoid seeing 
some European power forced to exercise it. In 
short, while we must interfere always cautiously, and 
never wantonly, yet, on rare occasions, where the 
need is great, it may be necessary to interfere, unless 
we are willing to confess ourselves too feeble for 
the task that we have undertaken, and to avow that 
we are willing to surrender it into stronger hands; 
and such confession and avowal I know my country- 
men too well to believe that they will ever make. 

AT THE FLORIDA BAPTIST COLLEGE, JACK- 
SONVILLE, FLA., OCTOBER 21, 1905 

Mr. Councilman; Mr. Principal; and you, My 
Fellow-Citizens : 

It is a very great pleasure to be here this after- 
noon and say a few words of greeting to you. Let 
me by way of beginning say a word of special greet- 
ing to my comrades of the Grand Army. I had a 
colored cavalry regiment in my brigade at Santiago, 
and they did well. 

My friends, let me say what a pleasure it has been 
in driving along the streets to have the Governor 
and the Mayor point out to me house after house 
owned by colored citizens, who by their own in- 
dustry, energ}^ and thrift had accumulated a small 
fortune honestly and were spending it wisely. Every 



And State Papers 511 

good American must be interested in seeing every 
other x-Vmerican citizen rise, help himself upward, 
so as to be better able to do his duty by himself and 
those dependent upon him and by the State at large. 
It seems to me that it is true of all of us that our 
duties are even more important than our rights. If 
we do our duties faithfully in spite of all difficulties, 
then sooner or later the rights will take care of 
themselves. 

What I say to this body of my colored fellow- 
citizens is just exactly what I would say to any 
body of my white fellow-citizens. What we need 
in this country is typified by what I have been 
shown to-day as having been done by people 
of your race. We need education, morality, in- 
dustry; we need intelligence, clean living, and 
the power to work hard and effectively. No 
man interested, as every President must be, in 
the welfare of all his fellow Americans, could be 
otherwise than deeply pleased, not only at the evi- 
dences of thrift and prosperity among what must 
be evidently many hundreds of your number here 
in this city, as shown by the homes that I have seen, 
but interested also in seeing an educational institute 
like this carried on as this institute evidently is car- 
ried on. The costliest crop for any community is 
the crop of ignorance. It is perfectly true that edu- 
cation in mind alone won't make a good citizen; 
but it is equally true that you can not get the best 
citizen without education. We need to have our 
people of every race educated, as the Principal said 



512 Presidential Addresses 

in his words of introduction, in heart, mind, and 
hand; educated so that head and hand can do their 
several tasks, and so that there shall be behind head 
and hand also the heart, the conscience, the sense of 
clean and just living, which make the foundation of 
all good citizens. This is just as true for the white 
man as for the colored man. It is true of every 
man. 

I want to say a special word of acknowledgment 
to the school teachers, men and women alike, who 
are doing the work of education; and in saying 
that word I also want to point out this : it is ab- 
solutely essential that we should have people do well 
in the professions ; but there is only a limited amount 
of room in the professions and there is almost an 
unlimited amount of room in agriculture and in the 
mechanical trades. Do your very best to develop 
good , teachers, good doctors, to develop good 
preachers — preachers who shall preach to the col- 
ored man as it should be preached to the white 
man, that ''by their fruits you shall know them," 
and that the truly religious man is the man who 
is decent and clean in his private life; who is 
orderly and law-abiding; the man who hunts down 
the criminal and does all he can to stop crime 
and wrong-doing; the man w^ho treats his neighbor 
well; who is a good man in his own family and 
therefore a good man in the state. That is what we 
have a right to expect from the Christian leadership 
of the churches. All honor to the teacher, to the doc- 
tor, to the preacher ; but remember that it is impos- 



And State Papers 513 

sible that the bulk of any people shall be teachers, 
or doctors, or lawyers, or preachers. The bulk have 
got to be men engaged in the trades, as mechanics, 
as wage-workers, as farmers. Every man who is 
a good farmer, a thrifty, progressive, saving me- 
chanic, who owns his own house, who is free from 
debt, and able to bring up his children well, and to 
keep his wife as she should be kept, is not only a 
first-class citizen, but is doing a mighty work in 
helping to uplift his race. 

AT MOBILE, ALA., OCTOBER 23, 1905 

Mr. Mayor; My Fellozu-Citisens: 

I know that the rest of you will not grudge my 
saying that most of all I am touched by the sight 
of the men who wore the gray in the great war, 
parading here to-day. I have just been presented by 
Judge Semmes with this beautiful badge. I passed 
by the statue of Admiral Semmes as we drove up 
hither. Admiral Semmes had under him on the 
"Alabama" one of my uncles, and it was another 
uncle that built the ''Alabama." The Judge's sister, 
the Admiral's daughter, is the wife of that dis- 
tinguished ex-Confederate who by his rule as Gov- 
ernor of the Philippines has held aloft the record 
of American rule for integrity, efficiency, and 
firmness. 

In speaking before the citizens of this great sea- 
port of the Gulf I naturally wish to say a word 
about the Panama Canal. I hold that as a matter 



514 Presidential Addresses 

of public policy whatever helps part of our country 
helps the whole: and I did my best to bring about 
the construction of the canal in the interest of all 
our people; but if there is any one section to be most 
benefited by it, it is the section that includes the 
Gulf States. Originally I had been for the Nicara- 
gua canal ; but when Congress acted I abode by the 
decision of Congress. It became evident that we 
should either have no canal or the Panama Canal; 
and I am for a canal. If we had not acted as we 
have, all chance of building that canal would have 
vanished for half a century to come; and as it is 
we now are assured of having that canal within a 
comparatively short time. Gentlemen, I want to 
warn you not to be misled by interested clamor. 
Every man who had to do with bringing about the 
construction of the canal knows that for decades 
it was opposed and successfully opposed by great 
commercial interests which did not wish to see it 
completed, which did not wish to see a canal speed- 
ily dug through the Isthmus and communication be- 
tween the Atlantic and Pacific established. It seems 
to me evident from certain things I see in a portion 
of the daily press that those enemies are still active, 
and that they are going to try to becloud the issue, 
with the hope of putting off for ten or fifteen years 
or over the digging of that canal. Their weapons 
will be and are every form of misrepresentation. 
But. gentlemen, they will fail. You need not have 
the slightest alarm. Uncle Sam has started to dig 
that canal and it will be dug, and soon. The people 



And State Papers 515 

who, largely by the circulation of false rumors and 
by direct misstatement, are seeking to create con- 
fusion such as will defer the building of the canal 
will be disappointed. We have as a people the right 
to feel genuine satisfaction with the progress that 
has already been made. Let me point out some- 
thing of which you here will appreciate the signifi- 
cance : the sanitation of the Isthmus. Do you re- 
member that a couple of years ago men said that 
you could not dig that canal because yellow fever 
was epidemic there ? We are digging it, and with a 
cleaner bill of mortality than the Isthmus has ever 
known before. I am happy to be able to tell you 
that from information received this very day, I find 
that those who have just returned from the Isthmus 
are not only pleased but astonished at the excellent 
trim in which the project is; that it is going on well, 
and that it will go along even better in the future. 

Of all the things said about me to-day in the over- 
kind allusions to me, I was especially pleased by 
what the Colonel said as to my attitude toward 
crooked public servants. I will take advice about 
appointing men; but if I find they are crooked I do 
not take any advice at all about removing them. 
We have Scriptural authority for saying that "of- ' 
fences must come" ; but the Good Book adds, "woe 
to them through whom they come." I can not guar- 
antee, and no human being can, that there will not 
be an occasional man of an improper kind appointed, 
or an occasional well-meaning man who after being 
appointed goes wrong; but I can say that every 



5i6 Presidential Addresses 

effort within the power of the Government will be 
made to hunt such a man out of the public service 
and to punish him to the full extent of the law. 

Here in this seaboard city I want to say another 
word, and that is about the United States Navy. 
Again, Judge Semmes, in passing by the monument 
of your illustrious father I felt the thrill of pride that 
all Americans must feel that the names of the combat- 
ants in that famous ship duel are commemorated 
in the names of the "Kearsarge" and "Alabama" 
in the United States Navy now, and that if ever 
they have to go into action they will go into action 
side by side, manned by Americans, against a com- 
mon foe. I know that an audience composed as 
this audience is of men who either themselves fought 
or whose fathers fought in the Civil War, appreciate 
to the full the sound national policy (if I may use 
the vernacular) of never bluffing unless you mean 
to make good. We undertook to build the Panama 
Canal because we said that owing to our position and 
interest and standing we were the only nation that 
could or should do it. That means that we have 
got to protect it and police it ourselves. We do not 
ask anybody else to help us do the work we have 
allotted to ourselves. We must therefore bring up 
and keep up our navy to the highest point of effi- 
ciency. We can afford to have a small army; al- 
though we must insist upon its being kept up to the 
high point of efficiency that I am glad to say our 
regular army in its individual units has now at- 
tained. In the event of war, however, which I hope 



And State Papers 517 

will never come, the American people in the future 
as in the past must on land rely mainly upon its 
volunteer soldiery. But while it is a comparatively 
simple task to turn a man of the proper character, 
physique and intelligence into a good soldier, you 
can not improvise either a battleship or the crew of 
a battleship. At sea the battle has to be fought with 
the ships and the crews that have been prepared 
before the war begins ; and we wish to profit by 
the lessons of history by seeing that our navy is al- 
ways kept adequate to our needs. It is not neces- 
sary to have a very large navy ; but it is necessary 
that ship for ship it should be just a little the most 
efficient navy in the world. In battle the shots that 
count are the shots that hit. There are plenty of gal- 
lant fellows who will go down with their ships. 
That is all right ; if there is nothing else to be done, 
go down with the ships rather than surrender. But 
try to make the other fellow's ship go down first! 
I want our people to feel that in assuming to dig 
the Isthmian canal, in assuming the position we have 
assumed as regards this Western Hemisphere and 
in the Oriental seas, we bind ourselves to keep our 
navy at such a point of efficiency that there shall be 
no chance of humiliation at the hands of any foreign 
foe. 

I appreciate immensely this mighty outpouring of 
people. The Mayor in his most gratifying and 
touching speech spoke of the fact of our agreement 
on the fundamental questions, without regard to our 
differences on what are really matters only of polit- 



5i8 Presidential Addresses 

ical detail. The things that count are the things 
upon which we are all agreed and must be all agreed 
in our civic life. Whether President, Governor, 
Mayor, Congressman, or State Legislator, there are 
certain basic principles to which we must prove true 
if we are to make this country what it shall be made. 
We can perfectly well afford to differ about the cur- 
rency or the tariff; but we can not afford to differ 
about such questions as honesty in public life, de- 
cency and cleanliness in private life. Those qualities 
and others like them go to the root of the whole 
question of citizenship. I believe in the future of 
this country; I believe that this great self-govern- 
ing Republic will rise to a height never even dreamed 
of by any other nation, because I believe that the 
average American citizen. North or South, East or 
West, has the right stuff in him; that the average 
American citizen has the three fundamental virtues 
of honesty, courage, and common-sense. 

AT THE ALABAMA CONFERENCE FEMALE COL- 
LEGE, TUSKEGEE, ALA., OCTOBER 24, igo.s 

A'Ir. Mayor; and you, My Friends and Fellow 
Americans : 

It is indeed a peculiar pleasure to be here this 
morning and be greeted as you have greeted me. 
Mr. Mayor, I feel that those gathered here to greet 
me symbolize what we most like to think of as typ- 
ically American in our national life. When you 
brought me here, Mr. Mayor, I was met on the plat- 



And State Papers 519 

form by the pastors of the Methodist and Baptist 
churches in the shade of an institution of the higher 
learning, in the presence of these students and of 
the children of the pubHc schools ; while at the same 
tirae I see the industries of the nation typified both 
by cotton being picked as I came up and also by the 
fact that I am speaking on the most valuable plat- 
form I have ever spoken on (cotton bales) ; and 
finally, I have as a guard of honor members of the 
National Guard, whom, as I look at, I feel to be my 
own comrades, for they are just the type I had in 
my own regiment in the Spanish war. These ele- 
ments, as I say, typify what we hope and believe are 
the elements representing what is most vital in 
American life : the deep religious feeling of our 
people, the understanding of our people that ma- 
terial prosperity amounts to nothing if behind it and 
under it there is not the spiritual sense, the sense of 
moral obligation, the fealty to an ideal; the realiza- 
tion that in addition we must have, as the foundation 
of national prosperity, industry, energy, and thrift, 
and their fruits. There must be devotion to the arts 
and practices of peace, devotion to civic duty, and 
yet the readiness of the man who does his duty in 
civil life to do it in military life if ever the need 
arises; and finally the recognition of the fact that 
though a great many crops are important, the most 
important crop is the crop of children; and the one 
thing that this Nation can not afford to neglect is the 
education of the nation of the future. The Nation 
of the future will rise higher or not just as the boys 



520 Presidential Addresses 

and girls of the present are or are not trained to do 
their duty as men and as women. So I take a par- 
ticular pleasure in being here and greeting the chil- 
dren of the public schools and those past childhood 
who are studying in this college itself. The one all- 
essential thing in America, the thing that underlies 
ever3^thing else, is to have the average American a 
good man or a good woman. If there is any one 
thing that I respect more than a good man it is a 
good woman. I think she is just a trifle more use- 
ful, and she has a harder time in life; and so she is 
a little more entitled to our respect than even the 
best man ; and there is not a man here who is worth 
his salt who does not agree with me. Of course it 
is a mere truism to say that the ultimate factor in 
determining the welfare of the nation is the life 
of the home; that is, the way in which the ordinary 
man, the ordinary woman, performs his or her 
ordinary duties of the most sacred and intimate 
kind. If the man is a good father, a good husband ; 
if he is decent and clean in his domestic life; if he 
does his duty by his neighbor; if he is the kind of a 
man whom we are glad to have as a neighbor and 
to do business with, that man is a good citizen. It 
is just the same with the woman. If the woman is 
a good wife and mother, she is a good citizen; and 
not merely a good citizen, but she is the very best 
kind of citizen that this country can produce. What 
we need is not merely desire to perform heroic feats 
under altogether exceptional circumstances; but the 
steadfast determination to perform the rather com- 



And State Papers ^21 

monplace duties of every day, day by day, as they 
arise. Speaking broadly, the man who does that is 
the man whom yon can trust if the need for heroism 
arises. Each of you boys here should remember 
that the way to fit yourself to be of the utmost 
possible use is so to act that your family likes to 
have you at home, instead of feeling a relief when 
you are gone ; and it is the same way with the girl. 
We all of us know an occasional foolish mother who 
says, *1 have had to work hard ; I have had a pretty 
hard time, my daughter shall not have to work." 
That is not kindness to the daughter. It is doing 
the very worst thing that can be done for her. Do 
not bring up your boys and girls to be useless, to 
avoid trouble, to get around trouble, to shirk work. 
The man or the woman who counts in life is the 
man or the woman, not who flinches from a task, 
but who does the task, who overcomes the obstacle! 
The boy or girl won't turn out that kind of a man 
or woman if not brought up in that spirit from the 
beginnin 



ig-- 



AT TUSKEGEE INSTITUTE, TUSKEGEE, ALA 
OCTOBER 24, 1905 

Mr. Washington; Friends, and Pupils of Tuskegee 
Institute: 

To the white population as well as to the black, 
It IS of the utmost importance that the negro be en- 
couraged to make himself a citizen of the highest 
type of usefulness. It is to the interest of the white 



522 Presidential Addresses 

people that this policy be conscientiously pursued, and 
to the interest of the colored people that they clearly 
realize that they have opportunities for economic 
development here in the South not now offered else- 
where. Within the last twenty years the industrial 
operations of the South have increased so tremen- 
dously that there is a scarcity of labor almost every- 
where; so that it is the part of wisdom for all who 
wish the prosperity of the South to help the negro 
to become in the highest degree useful to himself, 
and therefore to the community in which he lives. 
The South has always depended, and now depends, 
chiefly upon her native population for her work. 
Therefore in view of the scarcity not only of com- 
mon labor, but of skilled labor, it becomes doubly 
important to train every available man to be of the 
utmost use, by developing his intelligence, his skill, 
and his- capacity for conscientious effort. Hence 
the work of the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial 
Institute is a matter of the highest practical im- 
portance to both the white man and the black man, 
and w^ell worth the support of both races alike in 
the South and in the North. Your fifteen hundred 
students are not only being educated in head and 
heart, but also trained to industrial efficiency, for 
from the beginning Tuskegee has placed especial 
emphasis upon the training of men and women 
in agriculture, mechanics, and household duties. 
Training in these three fundamental directions does 
not embrace all that the negro, or any other race, 
needs, but it does cover in a very large degree the 



And State Papers 523 

field in which .the negro can at present do most 
for himself and be most helpful to his white neigh- 
bors. Every black man who leaves this institute 
better able to do mechanical or industrial work adds 
by so much to the wealth of the whole community 
and benefits all people in the community. The pro- 
fessional and mercantile avenues to success are 
overcrowded ; for the present the best chance of suc- 
cess awaits the intelligent worker at some mechan- 
ical trade or on a farm; for this man will almost 
certainly achieve industrial independence. I am 
pleased, but not in the least surprised, to learn that 
many among the men and women trained at Tus- 
kegee find immediate employment as leaders and 
workers among their own people, and that their 
services are eagerly sought by white people for va- 
rious kinds of industrial work, the demand being 
much greater than the supply. Viewed from any 
angle, ignorance is the costliest crop that can be 
raised in any part of this Union. Every dollar put 
into the education of either white man or black man, 
in head, in hand, and in heart, yields rich dividends 
to the entire community. Merely from the economic 
standpoint it is of the utmost consequence to all our 
citizens that institutions such as this at Tuskegee 
should be a success. But there are other and even 
higher reasons that entitle it to our support. In 
the interest of humanity, of justice, and of self- 
protection, every white man in America, no matter 
where he lives, should try to help the negro to help 
himself. It is in the interest and for the protection 



5^4 Presidential Addresses 

of the white man to see that the negro is educated. 
It is not only the duty of the white man, but it is 
to his interest, to see that the negro is protected in 
property, in hfe, and in all his legal rights. Every 
time a law is broken, every individual in the com- 
munity has the moral tone of his life lowered. 
Lawlessness in the United States is not confined to 
any one section ; lynching is not confined to any one 
section; and there is perhaps no body of American 
citizens who have deserved so well of the entire 
American people as the public men, the publicists, 
the clergymen, the countless thousands of high- 
minded private citizens, who have done such 
heroic work in the South in arousing public 
opinion against lawlessness in all its forms, 
and especially against lynching. I very earnestly 
hope that their example will count in the North 
as well as in the South, for there are just as 
great evils to be warred against in one region of 
our country as in another, though they are not in 
all places the same evils. And when any body of 
men in any community stands bravely for what 
is right, these men not merely serve a useful pur- 
pose in doing the particular task to which they set 
themselves, but give a lift to the cause of good 
citizenship throughout the Union. I heartily ap- 
preciate what you have done at Tuskegee; and I 
am sure you will not grudge my saying that it could 
not possibly have been done save for the loyal sup- 
port you have received from the white people round 
about; for during the twenty-five years of effort to 



And State Papers 525 

educate the black man here in the midst of a white 
community of intelHgence and culture, there has 
never been an outbreak between the races, or any 
difficulty of any kind. All honor is due to the white 
men of Alabama, to the white men of Tuskegee, for 
what they have done. And right here let me say 
that if in any community a misunderstanding be- 
tween the races arises, over any matter, infinitely the 
best way out is to have a prompt, frank and full con- 
ference and consultation between representatives of 
the wise, decent, cool-headed men among the whites 
and the wise, decent, cool-headed colored men. 
Such a conference will always tend to bring about 
a better understanding, and will be a great help all 
round. 

Hitherto I have spoken chiefly of the obligations 
existing on the part of the white man. Now let 
you remember on the other hand that no help can 
permanently avail you save as you yourselves de- 
velop capacity for self-help. You young colored 
men and women educated at Tuskegee must by pre- 
cept and example lead your fellows toward sober, in- 
dustrious, law-abiding lives. You are in honor 
bound to join hands in favor of law and order and to 
war against all crime, and especially against all crime 
by men of your own race; for the heaviest wrong 
done by the criminal is the wrong to his own race. 
You must teach the people of your race that they 
must scrupulously observe any contract into which 
they in good faith enter, no matter whether it is 
hard to keep or not. If you save money, secure 



526 Presidential Addresses 

homes, become taxpayers, and lead clean, decent, 
modest lives, you will win the respect of your neigh- 
bors of both races. Let each man strive to excel his 
fellows only by rendering substantial service to the 
community in which he lives. The colored people 
have many difficulties to pass through, but these 
difficulties will be surmounted if only the policy of 
reason and common-sense is pursued. You have 
made real and great progress. According to the 
census the colored people of this country own and 
pay taxes upon something like three hundred mil- 
lion dollars' worth of property, and have blotted out 
over fifty per cent of their illiteracy. What you 
have done in the past is an indication of what you 
will be able to accomplish in the future under wise 
leadership. Moral and industrial education is what 
is most needed, in order that this progress may con- 
tinue. The race can not expect to get everything at 
once. It must learn to wait and bide its time; to 
prove itself worthy by showing its possession of 
perseverance, of thrift, of self-control. The des- 
tiny of the race is chiefly in its own hands, and must 
be worked out patiently and persistently along these 
lines. Remember also that the white man who can 
be of most use to the colored man is that colored 
man's neighbor. It is the Southern people them- 
selves who must and can solve the difficulties that 
exist in the South; of course what help the people 
of the rest of the Union can give them must and 
will be gladly and cheerfully given. The hope of 
advancement for the colored man in the South lies 



And State Papers 527 

in his steady, common-sense effort to improve his 
moral and material condition, and to work in har- 
mony with the white man in upbuilding the Com- 
monwealth. The future of the South now depends 
upon the people of both races living up to the spirit 
and letter of the laws of their several States and 
working out the destinies of both races, not as races, 
but as law-abiding American citizens. 

AT THE CAPITOL BUILDING, MONTGOMERY, 
ALA., OCTOBER 24, 1905 

Governor; Colonel Wiley; My Felloiv-Citizens: 

My friends and fellow-citizens, think what a priv- 
ilege ours is; think what it means for this nation; 
that there is no place in this Union where the Pres- 
ident of the Union can feel more at home, can feel 
more that he is indeed the President of all the Union, 
of a reunited and indissoluble Union, than here un- 
der the shadow of the first capitol of the Confed- 
eracy. Poor indeed would be the soul of the man 
who did not leave Montgomery a better American 
than he came into it, after being received as I have 
been received to-day. 

In speaking to all of you I know that the younger 
— those of my own age and younger still — will not 
grudge my saying a special word of greeting to the 
veterans of the great war. Here again think how 
fortunate we are. There is no other people of which 
history tells, which, having passed through such a 
war as we passed through, after forty years finds not 



528 Presidential Addresses 

only that the flag which had been rent in sunder is 
once again whole without a seam; finds all the 
people challenging as theirs the right to claim their 
part in the heritage of glory bequeathed to every 
American, alike by the Americans who wore the 
blue and the Americans who wore the gray in the 
great Civil War. In coming to your mighty and 
beautiful State, with its wealth of agriculture, its 
wealth of manufactures, I am more than ever im- 
pressed by the solidarity of our interests as a people. 
As the Governor pointed out, the greatest and most 
important single export of our people is the export 
of cotton ; and the whole nation is concerned in the 
welfare of the cotton growers. It is not only im- 
portant for Alabama and the rest of the Gulf States ; 
it is important for the entire Union, because it is 
the .cotton crop which determines the balance of 
trade as being in favor of this Nation. The business 
of any part of this Nation is the business of the en- 
tire Nation; and the National Government is bound 
to do everything it can in the interest of the cotton 
growers; to preserve your markets; to do every- 
thing that can possibly be done to see that the 
natural demand for cotton abroad is kept up and is 
met here under fair conditions by our own people. 
Perhaps no State in the Union is more interested 
than this in the performance of what is to be the 
greatest engineering feat the world has yet seen — 
the building of the Isthmian canal. The cotton crop 
largely goes to Asia. The canal will of course im- 
mensely shorten the water route to Asia. Our in- 



And State Papers 529 

fiuence in the Orient must be kept at such a pitch as 
will ensure our being able to guarantee fair treat- 
ment to our merchants and manufacturers by China. 
We must insist upon having fair treatment ; and as 
a step toward getting it we must give fair treatment 
in return. I would demand that on ethical grounds 
alone; I would demand it also on grounds of self- 
interest. 

Now I want to say a word about the children. 
Nothing pleases me more than to see the care you 
are devoting to education in this State ; and among 
the many splendidly heroic deeds credited to the 
Southern people in peace as well as in war is the 
fact of having to face, as they did, the future in the 
midst of a broken and war-swept country, they 
not only built up their industrial prosperity, but 
they have provided steadily for the education of the 
coming generation. 

The successful performance of political duty de- 
pends absolutely upon the successful performance of 
domestic, of social, duty. There never can be, there 
never will be a good government in which the aver- 
age citizen is not a decent man in private life. It 
is a contradiction in terms to speak of a good gov- 
ernment if the good government does not rest upon 
cleanliness and decency in the home, respect of hus- 
band and wife for one another, tenderness of the 
man for those dependent upon him, performance of 
duty by woman and by man, and the proper educa- 
tion of the children who are to make the next gen- 
eration. The vital things in life are the things that 
8— Vol. XVI 



530 Presidential Addresses 

foolish people look upon as commonplace. The vital 
deeds of life are those things which it lies within 
the reach of each of us to do, and the failure to 
perform which means the destruction of the State. 

AT BIRMINGHAM, ALA., OCTOBER 24, 1905 

Mr. Rhodes; and yon, My Fellozv-Citisens: 

I wish to say that I am stirred most deeply by this 
magnificent reception from what Mr. Rhodes has so 
well called the Magic City of the South. Alabama 
has made a wonderful record. At the close of the 
war, shattered, war-swept, it seemed that it was im- 
possible for her people, in the grip of poverty as 
they were, to rally ; and any people less strong than 
you of Alabama would have failed ; but you had the 
stuff in you and you succeeded. About the year 
1880 the tide turned, and the last quarter of a 
century has seen in Alabama a progress that would 
have been absolutely impossible in any other age or 
in any other nation than ours. The agriculture of 
the State went upward by leaps and bounds; but 
even more marvelous was your mechanical and in- 
dustrial success. You have in this State coal and 
iron, the two basic elements in modern industrial- 
ism, and you have also a wealth of water power 
only partially used; and given that amount of nat- 
ural resources and the right type of man to use 
them, the result will be what we have seen. But 
there is something that is ahead of any kind of nat- 
ural resources, and that is the citizenship of the man 



And State Papers 531 

on the soil. Proud though I am of your extraor- 
dinary industrial prosperity, I am prouder yet of 
the men who have achieved it. 

Think what it means for our nation to have the 
President of the United States greeted as he has 
been to-day, with on his right and his left hand as 
the guard of honor the veterans of the Civil War, 
the men who wore the blue, the men who wore the 
gray, united forever. 

As I came up the street nothing pleased me as 
much as the sight of the school-children drawn up 
alongside the line of march. Remember that we 
shall leave this country in the hands of the children 
of to-day, and that the American of to-morrow 
will be what we train the boy or girl to be. If the 
children are not well educated, if they are not 
brought up as they should be, the State will go down. 
We of this generation have received a splendid heri- 
tage from you men of the years of '60 to '65. 
Honor to us if we treat your great deeds as spur- 
ring us onward; and shame to us if we treat your 
great deeds as excuses for our own idleness or folly. 
When I speak of education I do not mean only edu- 
cation in intelligence. That counts tremendously; 
but education in character counts more. It is char- 
acter that determines the Nation's progress in the 
long run. 

In the organizations of veterans after the Civil 
War each hails the other as comrade. It makes 
no difference whether the man was a lieutenant-gen- 
eral Or whether he was the youngest recruit that 



532 Presidential Addresses 

served at the very end of the war. All that is asked 
is, did he do his duty in the place in which he was. 
If he did, you are for him. If he did not. you have 
no comradeship with him. I ask that the same 
lesson that you of the Civil War applied practically 
in your own persons during and since that war be 
applied by the rest of us in civil life. I ask that 
we scorn alike the base arrogance of the rich man 
who would look down on his poorer brother and the 
equally base envy of the poor man who would hate 
his richer brother; and that you apply to every cit- 
izen of this Republic just this one test — the test that 
gauges his worth as a man. Does he do his duty 
fairly by himself, his family, his neighbor, and the 
State and the Nation? If he does, be for him, 
whether he is rich or poor, because if you do not you 
are recreant in the spirit of Americanism. 

REMARKS ON BEING PRESENTED WITH TWO 
BADGES, AT BIRMINGHAM, ALA., OCTO- 
BER 24, 1905 
Ladies; General: 

I accept the two badges in the spirit in which they 
are offered; for your spirit here is that we are now 
indeed and forever reunited under the flag of the 
indissoluble Union; and that henceforth the only 
rivalry between the man whose father fought in the 
Union army and the man whose father fought in 
the Confederate army will be the generous rivalry of 
seeing who can do most for our common country. 



And State Papers S33 



AT CITY PARK, LITTLE ROCK, ARK., OCTOBER 

25, 1905 

Governor; Judge Trieher, and you, My Fellow- 
Citizens: 

I am fortunate enough to have spoken all over 
the Union, and I have never said in any State or 
any section what I would not have said in any other 
State or in any other section. I am fortunate in be- 
ing President of a nation where you do not have to 
praise one State by running down any other State. 
Arkansas, the New England States, the Western, the 
Eastern, the Northern, the Southern — they are all 
good States and I am for them all. The thing that 
has impressed me most as I have gone through this 
country from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the 
Canadian border to the Gulf, has been not the super- 
ficial differences of our people, but the essential 
likenesses of our people. The average American is 
a pretty good fellow; and all that is necessary, as 
you men of the honor guard, you men of the blue 
and gray know, is that he should know the other 
average American and they will get on all right. 
That is true as regards locality and locality, and 
true as regards occupation and occupation. Thank 
heaven, we are free now from all danger of sectional 
antagonism! We must now see that there never 
comes any spirit of class antagonism in this country, 
any spirit of hostility between capitalist and wage- 
worker, between employer and employed; and we 



534 Presidential Addresses 

can avoid the upgrowth of any such feeling by re- 
membering always to treat each man on his worth 
as a man. Do not hold it for him or against him 
that he is either rich or poor. If he is a crooked 
man and rich, hold it against him, not because he 
is rich, but because he is crooked. If he is not a 
rich man and crooked, hold it against him, still be- 
cause he is crooked. If he is a square man, no mat- 
ter how much or how little money he has, stand by 
him because he is a square man. Distrust more than 
any other man in this Republic the man who would 
try to teach Americans to substitute loyalty to any 
class for loyalty to the whole American people. 
Republics have flourished before now, and have 
fallen; and they have usually fallen because there 
arose within them parties that represented either the 
unscrupulous rich or the unscrupulous poor, and that 
persuaded the majority of the people to substitute 
loyalty to the one class for loyalty to the people as 
a whole. 

Remember that the rancorous envy that hates the 
rich is only one side of the shield whose obverse is 
the insolence and arrogance that looks down on 
the poor. The two qualities are fundamentally the 
same. They only differ in their manifestations be- 
cause it happens that the man showing one is in a 
different position from the man showing the other. 
You show me a rich man who is arrogant and in- 
solent in his disregard of the man of less means, and 
I tell you that same man, if he loses his wealth, 
will want to plunder every rich man. In the same 



And State Papers S3S 

way the man who preaches the gospel of hate and 
envy toward his fellows who are better off, if he be- 
comes better off will oppress the men whom he once 
championed. Distrust the man who would persuade 
you that he would do you good by trying to do 
any other man harm. The man who is true to you 
will ultimately be the man who is true to the great 
fundamental principles of righteousness. In public 
life the man who seeks to persuade you that he will 
benefit you by wronging any one else, if the chance 
arises, will surely try to benefit himself by wrong- 
ing you. What as a nation we need is to stand by 
the eternal, immutable principles of right and 
decency, the principle of fair dealing as between man 
and man, the principles that teach us to regard vir- 
tue with respect and vice with abhorrence wherever 
either the virtue or the vice may be found. If we 
substitute for the line that divides the decent man 
from the man who is not decent, the line dividing 
the rich man from the poor man, or the line making 
any other artificial division, we will have done irrep- 
arable wrong to the Nation itself. 

Governor, you spoke of a hideous crime that is 
often hideously avenged. The worst enemy of the 
negro race is the negro criminal, and, above all, the 
negro criminal of that type; for he has committed 
not only an unspeakably dreadful and infamous 
crime against the victim, but he has committed a 
hideous crime against the people of his own color; 
and every reputable colored man. every colored man 
who wishes to see to the uplifting of his race, owes it 



536 Presidential Addresses 

as his first duty to himself and to that race to hunt 
down that criminal with all his soul and strength. 
Now for the side of the white man. To avenge one 
hideous crime by another hideous crime is to re- 
duce the man doing it to the bestial level of the 
wretch who committed the bestial crime. The hor- 
rible effects of lynch law are shown in the fact that 
three-fourths of the lynchings are not for that crime 
at all, but for other crimes. And above all other 
men, Governor, you and I and all who are ex- 
ponents and representatives of the law, owe it to 
our people, owe it to the cause of civilization and 
humanity, to do everything in our power, officially 
and unofficially, directly and indirectly, to free the 
United States from the menace and reproach of 
lynch law. 

We can afford to be divided on questions of mere 
partisanship; they do not make any real difference 
compared to other questions. The questions of cur- 
rency or the tariff are of no consequence compared 
to the fundamental questions, the questions upon 
which all good Americans should be one — the ques- 
tions of decency in the life of the home and of hon- 
esty in public life. It makes very little difference in 
the long run whether it is a Democrat or a Repub- 
lican who is President, compared to the importance 
of honesty and broad patriotism; it makes all the 
difference in the world that we shall have all our 
public officials honest, clean men, earnest to serve 
their countrymen wherever they may live. The 
candidate is the candidate of a party ; but if the Pres- 



, And State Papers 537 

ident is worth his salt he is the President of the 
whole people. Remember, the stream does not rise 
any higher than its source. You can not have good 
public life unless you have as a basis good private 
life. The country is going to be all right if the 
average man is decent and clean in his home life; 
if he is a good husband, a good father, a good son; 
if he does his duty by his neighbor; if he is the 
kind of a man you are glad to have as a neighbor 
and glad to do business with. If that man is the 
average American, America is going to continue to 
be all right ; and if the average goes below that you 
can not make the country right. 

I have great respect for a good man. There is 
only one person I respect more, and that is a good 
woman; and if there is any man here who does not 
agree with me I do not think much of him. The 
foundation of our happiness and well-being lies in 
the preservation of the typical American home, the 
kind of home in which you veterans of the Civil 
War were raised, so that when you went to battle, 
on whichever side you fought, you had the memory 
of what your fathers' and mothers had taught you 
to rest upon and to live up to. We of the younger 
generation — my comrades of the National Guard 
here and all of our time — inherited from these older 
men of the her6ic days, these men of the great Civil 
War, this splendid country of ours; we inherited 
our position in the world. Let us see to it that we 
leave to our children unimpaired and improved the 
heritage we received from our fathers. Shame to 



538 Presidential Addresses 

us if we treat the great deeds of the men of the past 
as excuses for laziness, or idleness, or shirking of 
duty on our part. Let us treat these great deeds as 
an incentive, as a spur; let us feel that we should 
hang our heads if we do not prove ourselves worthy 
representatives of the men who are before us — you 
men of the South here, whose heroism and valor for 
four years of war have been wellnigh surpassed by 
the heroism and valor you have displayed in the 
forty years of peace following it. Let us go on with 
the work of the material upbuilding of this country ; 
and at the same time remember that, vital though it 
is to have a good foundation of material well-being, 
yet it is only the foundation and upon it must be 
built the superstructure of the moral and spiritual 
higher life of the Nation. We all honor you men of 
the Civil War here, you men of the blue and men of 
the gray. We honor you because when the call to 
arms came you treated material considerations as 
dross to be cast aside, not to be for one moment 
weighed in the balance, compared to the proud priv- 
ilege of laying down everything, life itself, on the 
altar of your duty as light was given you to see your 
duty. Let us have that same spirit deep in our heart. 

AT THE LUNCHEON AT LITTLE ROCK, ARK., 
OCTOBER 25, 1905 

Mr. Toastmaster; fudge Rose; My Hosts: 

Let me at the outset say a word of thanks to the 
Arkansas Consistory for its generous hospitality, 
and say how much I appreciate it. 



And State Papers 539 

I want to say just one word suggested by the fact 
that Judge Rose was President of the American Bar 
Association and stands to-day as one of that group 
of eminent American citizens, eminent for their ser- 
vices to the whole country, whom we know as the 
leaders of the American bar. I want to speak as a 
layman about certain services that the learned pro- 
fession, of which Judge Rose is so eminent a mem- 
ber, can render to an even greater degree than they 
now render to the American people. I know that 
there is a good deal of distrust, rightly, for the lay- 
man who speaks of law or of theology. But I am 
going to say just a few words on a matter that con- 
cerns good citizenship, in which the layman has a 
right to expect leadership both from lawyer and from 
theologian. Very naturally in any profession there 
come to be men who treat the profession as an end 
instead of as a means (I am not now speaking from 
the standpoint of the individual, but from the stand- 
point of the Nation, of the State). Just as we have 
a right to judge the man of religious profession by 
the output that comes as a result of that profession, 
so we have a right to expect from the great profes- 
sion of the law, from that which is perhaps the lead- 
ing among the liberal lay professions, a peculiar quan- 
tity and quality of sen-ice to the public. There are 
certain abuses in connection with our whole system 
of law to-day which the laymen can not remedy, but 
which I earnestly hope that the men of the law will 
themselves remedy. I speak merely to my fellow 
laymen and invite correction. I am speaking before 



540 Presidential Addresses 

Gamaliel, and shall expect correction from Gama- 
liel if I go wrong. But our law comes down 
from the time when the state, the government, was 
all-powerful as compared to the individual ; when the 
government acted as a plaintiff and it was neces- 
sary that every possible safeguard should be thrown 
around the defendant, that he should be given every 
chance, and the fear of injustice was a synonym for 
fear of injustice to the private citizen against whom 
the state proceeded. It comes from a time, if my 
memory of history is right, when about five per cent 
of any given number of children born in England 
were punished by hanging, when people were hanged 
for the most trivial offences, and when all the ma- 
chinery of the law was in the hands of the govern- 
ment and directed against the individual ; so that the 
one thing that had to be done was to protect the 
individual. Circumstances in the past three or four 
centuries have wholly changed ; but the law has not 
changed nearly as rapidly or completely. At present 
there is not the slightest question as to the indi- 
vidual's rights being preserved. They are amply 
guarded. Of course there is the possibility of error 
in every human affair; but speaking generally, the 
man accused of criminal wrong, especially the man 
accused of criminal wrong against the public, has 
every possible chance secured him; but the public 
has by no means the chance it ought to have. No 
greater service is being rendered the American public 
to-day than by those members of the legal profession 
whose great good fortune it has been to stand forth 



And State Papers 541 

as prominently identified with the prosecution of 
crimes against the state. When I say crimes against 
the state I not only refer to crimes like those of 
bribery and corruption committed by any pubHc of- 
ficial, but I mean such a crime as murder, as any 
similar hideous misdeed, where the offence is not 
merely against the individual, but against the entire 
community. It is right to remember the interests 
of the individual, but it is right also to remember the 
interests of that great mass of individuals embodied 
in the public, in the government. It is unfortunate 
that we have permitted practices that were neces- 
sary three hundred years ago for the protection of 
innocent people to be elaborated, to be perverted, so 
that they become a means for allowing criminals to 
escape the punishment of their criminality. We 
urgently need in this country methods for expedit- 
ing punishment, methods for doing away with delay, 
methods which will secure to the public an even 
chance with the criminal. I do not ask any more; 
if we can get an average of just fifty per cent of 
the criminals we will be pretty nearly all right ; for 
that will give the public an even chance with the 
criminal whose offence is against the public. At 
present the right of appeal is in certain cases so 
abused as to make it a matter of the utmost difficulty 
to ultimately punish a man sufficiently rich or suffi- 
ciently influential to command really good legal 
talent. I am speaking of what I know, for I am 
speaking with very keenly in my mind experiences 
during the past three years in trying to get at 



542 Presidential Addresses 

certain public offenders who have been indicted, and 
some of whom it has been ahnost impossible to get 
into the jurisdiction of the courts in Washington in 
order to try them. There are others whose cases 
are still on appeal who profit by interminable delays. 
I feel that the man who offends against the state 
occupies a position rather worse than that of any 
other criminal, from the very fact that he is a 
man who attacks everybody instead of just one 
person, so that it is not the special business of 
any one to get at him. In consequence, if he can 
keep the forces of justice at bay long enough — if 
he can secure one or two mistrials — gradually 
the popular interest evaporates and the criminal 
gets off. 

As the Judge has so well said, the minute a man 
becomes President he ceases being the President of 
a party and is the President of every man, woman, 
and child within the confines of the Nation. But 
I permit myself one particular bit of party discrim- 
ination. I am just a trifle more intent on punish- 
ing the Republican offender than the Democrat; be- 
cause he is my own scoundrel, and I feel a certain 
sense of responsibility for him, and I intend to dis- 
charge that responsibility if I can. Of course, as 
we all know, offences must come ; but I have endeav- 
ored to carry out the Scriptural injunction and to 
make it a matter of woe unto him by whom they 
come. I am happy to say that we have a reason- 
able proportion of the offenders in question with 
stripes on; but not up to the fifty per cent average 



And State Papers 543 

that I would like; and I want to go a little further 
than we have yet gone. 

If the law is reasonably speedy and reasonably 
sure it takes away one great excuse for lawlessness. 
If some horrible crime is committed and the people 
feel that under the best circumstances there will be 
an indefinite delay in the punishment of the criminal, 
and that the punishment will be uncertain e\'en when 
the time for administering it comes, then a premium 
is put upon that kind of law-breaking which more 
than any other is a menace to the law. Long delays 
of justice, abuses of the pardoning power, the slug- 
gishness with which either court or attorney moves ; 
all of those things count in bringing about the con- 
dition of affairs which produces lynch law. 

Now, a layman can do but little more than to 
give utterance to the feeling that so liiany laymen 
have. I earnestly hope that the bench and the bar 
of the United States will in all proper ways see to 
it that the customs — for some of these things of 
which I complain are merely customs and not laws — 
inherited from the past when conditions were totally 
different, shall not be perverted so as to wrong the 
whole public by giving the criminal an advantage to 
which he is not entitled, and that some substantial 
improvement shall be made in the direction of secur- 
ing greater expedition and greater certainty in the 
administration of justice, and especially in the ad- 
ministration of criminal justice. 



544 Presidential Addresses 



TO A DELEGATION OF THE GRAND ARMY OF 
THE REPUBLIC, AT NEW ORLEANS, LA., 
OCTOBER 26, 1905 
Comrades: 

I want to thank you for coming here to greet me. 
I can not say how much it means to me to be greeted 
as I have been greeted by the men who wore the 
blue and the men who wore the gray in this trip 
through the Southland. At Little Rock my escort 
was composed of Union and Confederate soldiers, 
riding side by side, in pairs. 

As I said at Richmond, second only to the man 
who wore the blue, I hold the man who wore the 
gray, and we should indeed consider ourselves for- 
tunate as a Nation that, forty years after the Civil 
War, we find all of our people can challenge as the 
possession of all every memory of valor left by 
both sides in the great contest. Now we know but 
one rivalry — the rivalry to see which of us can do 
most for the flag of a united country. 

TO A DELEGATION OF CONFEDERATE 

VETERANS, AT NEW ORLEANS, LA., 

OCTOBER 26, 1905 

Gentlemen: Rather, if you will alloiv one who took 
part in a very small zvar to call you so, Comrades: 

I accept your gift with pleasure. Although some- 
times we have difficulties in this country that we 
have to battle against, and sometimes things that we 
are not quite satisfied with, yet we are pretty good 



And State Papers 545 

people. I have felt this almost as never before dur- 
ing the past weeks. Now think what it means in a 
Nation for the President of that Nation, forty years 
after one of the greatest wars of all time, to be able 
to come and speak as I spoke in the capital of the 
Southern Confederacy, and to feel that I was ad- 
dressing a people as loyal to the flag of our reunited 
country as can be found in this broad land of ours. 

I passed in the shadow of the monument of Ad- 
miral Semmes in Mobile — under whom one of my 
uncles fired the last gun that was discharged from 
the 'Alabama," which another uncle built. The 
daughter of that admiral is now the wife of our 
Governor in the Philippines. 

Gentlemen, this is an honor I appreciate. I thank 
you not only for the gift and the words which ac- 
company it, but for the spirit which lies behind the 
words. 

AT THE LUNCHEON, NEW ORLEANS, LA., 
OCTOBER 26, 1905 

Governor; Mr. Mayor; and You, My Hosts: 

Let me, at the outset, express through you my 
profound gratitude, my deeply moved appreciation 
of the way in which the people of New Orleans 
and of Louisiana have greeted me to-day. Gentle- 
men, no President of the United States could be 
greeted as I have been greeted to-day and not go 
back to take up the duties of his office with a stronger 
and more earnest purpose to try faithfully to repre- 
sent all the people whom he serves. And, Governor, 



546 Presidential Addresses 

as you have so well said, when a man is President, 
when he holds any public office, questions of a 
merely partisan character sink into absolute insig- 
nificance compared with the mighty questions upon 
which all good Americans should be united. 

And now, gentlemen, as you have greeted me so 
well, you have given me the opportunity to indulge 
myself in a luxury. There have been moments in 
the past when I was afraid of saying how well I 
thought of the Senators and Representatives in the 
National Congress from Louisiana for fear I might 
damage them! I did not know but that, may be, 
the best service I could do them was to keep still 
about my feeling for them. Now, I am embold- 
ened by your generous kindness and confidence to 
say that it has been indeed a pleasure to deal with 
Louisiana's representatives in the Senate and in the 
Lower House of Congress, because whenever I had 
to do with a great question of national importance 
I could go to them, convinced that if I could show 
them that it was really for the good of the Nation 
they would stand for it. That is all I ask of any 
man. I do not want any Senator or any Congress- 
man to Yote for anything I favor just because I 
favor it; but I do not want him to vote against it 
just because I favor it. There have been certain 
very worthy men in both Houses of Congress among 
the colleagues of the Louisiana representatives who 
instantly strove to prevent the realization of their 
most cherished projects as soon as I strove to bring 
it about! Now, from the representatives of Louisi- 



And State Papers 547 

ana I was sure of support in such matters, whether 
it was a question of building up and keeping at a 
high point of efficiency the United States Navy, or 
whether it was a question of building the Panama 
Canal. And mind you, gentlemen, the two things 
go together. One thing that, as President of this 
country, I will not do, is to make a bluff that I can 
not make good. I do not intend, on behalf of the 
Nation, to take any position until I have carefully 
thought out whether that position will be advanta- 
geous to the Nation, but if I take it I am going to 
keep it, and I am going to keep it no matter what 
outsider goes the other way. And I am sure that 
you, gentlemen, know that it has been an utter mis- 
take to think of me as a man desirous of seeing this 
Nation quarrelsome; this Nation eager to get into 
trouble. I have no respect either for the nation or 
for the individual that brawls, that invites trouble. 
I want to see this Nation do as the individual men 
in the Nation, who respect themselves, should do, 
that is be scrupulously regardful of the rights of 
others and honestly endeavor to avoid all cause of 
difficulty with any one. But I want, on behalf of this 
Nation, the peace that comes, not to the coward who 
cringes for it. but to the just man armed who asks 
it as a right. 

Listening to the greeting of the Governor and the 
Mayor this afternoon. I felt at once very proud and 
very humble. I have been greeted with words far 
above my worth, far above what is merited by what 
I have done. (Cries of "No, No!") I did not say 



548 Presidential Addresses 

that for the purpose of asking your dissent from it. 
1 do not say anything unless I mean it, and I do not 
say anything to flatter any audience or speak well 
of them unless I think well of them, and would 
speak well of them anywhere. 

I come down to see you of this State and city with 
a heart full of gratitude to you for having dis- 
played, through the trials of the hard summer that 
has passed, those qualities of heroism which we like 
to think of as distinctly American. Gentlemen, in 
coming among you this afternoon, I have the feel- 
ing of a man who, having been at headquarters, but 
not in action, goes to see a regiment that has been 
in action. I know that you understand, gentlemen, 
that the Governor and Mayor, at any time during 
the past summer, had but to request my presence, 
and I would have come down here at once, at any 
time when I could have been of the slightest assist- 
ance to you in the magnificent struggle you were 
waging. I wish to express the profound apprecia- 
tion and gratitude of all Americans toward you, our 
fellow-Americans, who have borne the heat and 
burden of the contest during the long day that is 
now passing. In actual war there can be no greater 
or more effective heroism than was shown by those 
who stayed here at their posts ; by those who, being 
away, came back ; and by those who, having planned 
to go away, instantly gave up going away and 
stayed here to aid in the fight for their fellows in 
distress. You have had 3'our martyrs, among them 
my lamented friend, Archbishop Chappelle; but you 



And State Papers 549 

have also your proud memories of service rendered, 
and the thrill that comes with the victory you have 
already won. I have been both amused and irri- 
tated at the criticisms sometimes made on you, by 
people who lived in other communities that were 
not in danger. Among the younger men here are 
some who when younger still have played football, 
and they will remember how very much easier it 
was to play the game from the side lines than on 
the field. Now, Louisiana and New Orleans, this 
summer, did what, so far as I remember, has never 
before been done in the case of a similar epidemic 
of yellow fever in the United States. They took 
hold of it after it had started and when it had got 
well under way, and they controlled and conquered 
it without waiting for the frost to come. The 
highest gratitude is due to the officials of the State, 
to the officials of the city, and to the private indi- 
viduals, clergymen, educators, philanthropists, and 
business men, who have spent their time and money 
and risked their lives freely in organizing and 
achieving success. It was the greatest privilege to 
me to contribue what I was able to the work. Mr. 
Mayor, Governor, you can hardly realize the pleas- 
ure I felt when a request was made upon me that 
gave me the chance of doing something for you; 
and I am glad to find how well you think of the 
work that was done by the United States Public 
Health and Marine Hospital Service under Dr. 
White. It gives me pleasure now to announce that 
in response to the request of the Governor and 



55° Presidential Addresses 

Mayor I have told them that Dr. White shall be de- 
tailed down here just as long as his services are 
needed. Now, just one word of warning to you, 
Dr. White. We have excellent Scriptural authority 
for the statement that it is well to beware when all 
men speak well of you; because it is an unfortunate 
feature of human nature that when they have appre- 
ciated a man up to the very last limit, they tend to 
go a little bit the other way, after a while. The 
time when one is praised very much is the time 
one should walk guardedly and carefully and work 
with all one's soul and strength. Gentlemen, that 
applies to Presidents quite as much as to doctors ! 

The Governor spoke of the Panama Canal. It is 
a very big work, and it is only a very big nation that 
can do that kind of work." I expect soon to have a 
report from the engineers as to the exact shape the 
work will take. I will then be able to make more 
definite forecasts as to the time, but of this I can 
assure you. the work will be done well, it will be 
done as speedily as possible, and it will absolutely 
and surely be done. 

One more point : New Orleans and Louisiana are 
vitally interested in the levee system. The Mis- 
sissippi, which flows through the State, drains por- 
tions of twenty odd other States, and the control of 
that river must, in my opinion, be, in good part, a 
national object. The National Government now 
does something toward the erection and care of the 
levees. In my judgment it should do not only more, 
but very much more. 



And State Papers 551 

I was greeted to-day by your school-children, 
clustered around the monument erected to that pure 
and upright man and mighty General, Robert E. 
Lee; and as we drove away from the square in 
which his statue stands we passed by a house in this 
old Confederate city in which there was prominently 
displayed a picture of Abraham Lincoln, and under- 
neath it the words, "With malice toward none, with 
charity toward all." I have been greeted by a special 
guard of honor, composed of men who, in the great 
war, wore the Confederate uniform. I have also 
been greeted by men who, in that war, wore the 
blue. I saw before me many of my comrades of 
the lesser war. I had in my own regiment, from 
Louisiana as well as from many other States, men 
whose fathers had worn the gray, just as I had 
other men whose fathers had worn the blue, all 
united forever in loyalty to one indissoluble union, 
and acknowledging only the rivalry of trying to 
see which could do the most for the flag of our com- 
mon country. Oh, my fellow-countrymen, think 
what a fortune is ours, that we belong to this Na- 
tion, which, having fought one of the mightiest wars 
of all times, is now reunited forever, in an indis- 
soluble union, under one flag; so that we claim as 
ours the heritage of honor and glory, left by every 
man who, on whichever side he stood, when the 
days came which tried men's souls, did all that in 
him lay — did his whole duty — according to the 
light that was given him to see that duty. 



55^ Presidential Addresses 



SPEECH TO THE OFFICERS AND CREW OF THE 

U. S. FLAGSHIP "WEST VIRGINIA," AT 

SEA, OCTOBER 29, 1905 

Admiral, Captain, Officers and Ship's Company of 
the "West Virginia" : 

It is a privilege for any President to come on 
board a squadron of American warships such as 
these, not alone to see the ships, but to see the men 
who handle them. From the admiral down through 
the entire ship's company, every American should 
be proud of what I have seen aboard this ship; the 
discipline, the ready subordination of each man, 
whether officer or enlisted man, to duty; the care 
taken of the men, and in return the eager, intelligent, 
self-respecting zeal of each man in doing his work. 
What must impress especially any observer is how 
essential it is that every individual on a ship like 
this should do his whole duty, and in any crisis 
more than his duty. The result as I see it in this 
ship is a triumph not only of organization and dis- 
cipline, but of the ready zeal with which each in- 
dividual performs his allotted task. At any time 
some emergency may arise in which the safety of 
the entire ship will depend upon the vigilance, in- 
telligence, and cool courage of some one man among 
you, perhaps an officer, perhaps an enlisted man. 
Any man in the whole ship's company who does his 
full duty can claim as his own the honor and repute 
of the ship and has the right to feel a personal pride 
in all she does. You and your fellows in the Navy 



And State Papers S53 

and in its sister service, the Army, occupy a posi- 
tion different from that of any other set of men in 
our country. Going through the ship yesterday, in 
the engine rooms, storerooms, turrets, everywhere 
the thing that impressed me most was the all-im- 
portance of each man in his place : the all-importance 
of that man both knowing his work and feeling it 
a matter of keen personal pride to do it as well as 
it could possibly be done. All through the ship I 
have seen the same purpose, the purpose to learn 
exactly what the duty to be done was and then to 
do it; and the power to do presupposes the posses- 
sion by each of you of intelligence, courage, and 
physical address. I believe that this attitude of 
yours is typical of the attitude of the men of our 
Navy generally and of the Army also. Now on the 
one hand this should make our country feel toward 
Uncle Sam's men in the Army and in the Navy a 
sense of obligation and gratitude such as they feel 
toward no others; and on the other hand it should 
make you feel that no other Americans rest under 
so great an obligation to do their duty well ; for in 
your hands lies the credit, the honor, and the in- 
terest of the entire Nation. You are doing your 
duty well and faithfully in peace. Remember that 
if ever, which may Heaven forbid, war comes, it 
will depend upon you and those like you whether the 
people of this country are to hold their heads even 
higher or to hang them in shame. I hope that no such 
crisis will ever occur, but I have entire faith that if it 
ever does occur, you will rise level to any demand 
9— Vol. XVI 



554 Presidential Addresses 

that may be made upon you, and that by the way 
you train yourselves and are trained in time of peace, 
you will fit yourselves to do well should war arise. 

Now a special word to the officers. Captain 
Arnold, as a boy you witnessed a great fight of the 
"Merrimac" when she came out to Hampton Roads, 
sank the "Congress" and the "Cumberland," and the 
next day met her match in the "Monitor." That was 
a fight fraught with great honor for our people. 
The "Cumberland"'sank with her flags flying and her 
guns firing while her decks were awash, and as the 
water was shallow, her flag still floated from the 
mast above them after she had gone down. The 
captain of the "Congress" met his death in the fight, 
winning an epitaph which deserves to be remembered 
forever in the American Navy. His name was 
Joe Smith, and his father, an old naval officer, was 
in Washington. When word was brought to him that 
his son's ship had surrendered, he answered simply : 
"Then Joe is dead." To have earned the right to 
have his death assumed as a matter of course in 
such conditions is of itself enough to crown any 
life, and every American officer should keep ever 
before him all that is implied therein. Let each of 
you officers remember, in the event of war, that 
while a surrender must always be justifiable, yet 
that a surrender must always be explained, while it 
is never necessary to explain the fact that you don't 
surrender, no matter what the conditions may be. 

A tragedy occurred this morning. A man was 
lost from the "Colorado." Such cases are from time 



And State Papers 555 

to time inevitable in a service like ours. Under 
such circumstances, everything must always be done, 
as in this instance everything was done, for the 
rescue of the man. But you men are fitted for fight- 
ing because you have the fighting edge. This means 
that you are willing at all times to face death in the 
performance of your duty. The man who died this 
morning was an excellent seaman who had done 
his duty faithfully and who died in the performance 
of that duty. Therefore he died in the service of his 
country exactly as much as if he had died in battle, 
and deserves as much honor. 

What I have said so far applies to the whole Navy. 
Now a word especially to this squadron and to this 
ship. No other nation can boast of a better 
squadron, a squadron composed of more formidable 
vessels. In the matter of the officers and men, we 
have no cause to shrink from comparison with any 
other nation. So far, the "Colorado" has been the 
one ship that has had the chance to show what she 
could do in gunnery practice, and her record has 
been so astonishingly good that the other ships of 
the squadron will have to do their level best if they 
expect even to equal it. I need not tell you to re- 
member that battles are decided by gunfire, and that 
the only shots that count are the shots that hit. 

Men, I am glad to have seen you, and I don't think 
that anywhere under our flag there could be found a 
better set of clean-cut, vigorous, self-respecting 
American citizens of the very type that makes one 
proudest to be an American. 



556 Presidential Addresses 



REMARKS TO A DELEGATION OF RAILWAY 
EMPLOYEES' ORDERS— EXECUTIVE OFFICE, 
WASHINGTON, NOVEMBER 14, 1905 

Gentlemen: 

I have just a word that I want to say to you. In 
the first place, I trust I need hardly say that no dele- 
gation will ever be more welcome at the White 
House than such a delegation as this. The inter- 
ests of the wage-worker and the interests of the tiller 
of the soil must be peculiarly close to all American 
public men; among other reasons for the reason 
that if they prosper all other classes will prosper 
likewise as a matter of course. As I said the other 
day to the representatives of organized labor at 
Atlanta, I shall do everything in my power for the - 
laboring man except to do anything wrong; for the 
man who will do anything wrong in the nominal 
interest of another man will also do wrong against 
this same other man if ever it becomes to his own 
interest to do so. Your associations deserve pecul- 
iar regard because you have developed to a marked 
degree the very qualities that all bodies of wage- 
workers should develop: the intelligence, the re- 
gard for the future, the self-respect mingled with 
the respect for others, the power of self-restraint, 
which are absolutely essential to any body of men 
which is to move upward and onward. Remember 
always that every man of us must in some shape or 
other have his passions and appetites governed ; and 



And State Papers 557 

the less of that g-overnment there is from within 
the more there will have to be from without. 

With most of the general statements that you 
make I agree, but I am not sure that I agree with 
your application of them. There has been compara- 
tively little complaint to me of the railroad rates 
being as a whole too high. The most serious com- 
plaints that have been made to me have been of 
improper discrimination in railroad rates. For in- 
stance, in two recent cases affecting great corpo- 
rations the complaints that have been made to me 
have been that they are too low as regards certain 
big shippers ; the complaint in both these cases is 
about the differential, the difference of treatment of 
two sets of users of the railways, the difference in 
favor of one set of shippers as against another set of 
shippers. Whether this is just or not I am not pre- 
pared to say. I very deeply appreciate and sympa- 
thize with the feeling you express as to the com- 
munity of interest between the man who actually 
does the handling of the trains, at the brakes, in the 
engine cab, as a fireman, as a conductor, and the 
man who has to do, as a capitalist or as the higher 
employee of the capitalist, with the general man- 
agement of the road. I feel that one of the lessons 
that can not be overinculcated is the lesson of the 
identity of interest among our people as a whole. 
I do not have to tell a body like this something 
that I do have to tell some other bodies, and that is 
if you have not got at the head of a railroad a man 
who can make a success of it, the wage-workers on 



558 Presidential Addresses 

that railroad can not prosper. You must have at 
the head the type of ability which can do well; 
just as you, comrade of the Civil War (turning to 
an engineer who wore the button of the Grand 
Army) needed a general who knew his business, 
or your valor did not avail. You remember that 
the valor of the best enlisted man that ever was 
(of course he was the basis of everything; the man 
who carried the gun and made the army; and you 
could not get the right stuff out of him if it was 
not in him) was of no value if there was not a di- 
recting power to see that the valor was used aright. 
The Union Army could have accomplished nothing 
if the feeling of the enlisted men had been the wish 
to down Grant and Sherman instead of supporting 
them heartily in achieving the common work for 
which all in common were striving. 

If you will look at my Raleigh speech and my 
other recent utterances you will see my principles 
clearly set forth. I have said again and again 
that I would not tolerate for one moment any in- 
justice to a railroad any more than I would tolerate 
any injustice by a railroad. I have said again and 
again that I would remove a public official who im- 
properly yielded to any public clamor against a 
railroad, no matter how popular that clamor might 
be, just as quickly as I would remove a public offi- 
cial who rendered an improper service to the rail- 
road at the expense of the public. But I am con- 
vinced that there must be an increased regulatory 
and supervisory power exercised by the Government 



And State Papers 559 

over the railways. Indeed, I would like it exercised 
to a much greater extent than I have any idea of 
pressing at the moment. For instance. I would 
greatly like to have it exercised in the matter of 
overcapitalization. I am convinced that the "wages 
fund" would be larger if there was no fictitious capi- 
tal upon which dividends had to be paid. I need 
hardly say that this does not mean hostility to 
wealth. If you gentlemen here, in whom I believe 
so strongly, were all a unit in demanding that some 
improper action should be taken against certain 
men of wealth, then, no matter whether I did or 
did not like those same men of wealth, I would 
defend them against you, no matter how much I 
cared for you; and in so doing I would really be 
acting in your own interest. I would be false to 
your interest if I failed to do justice to the capi- 
talist as much as to the wage-worker. But I shall 
act against the abuses of wealth just as against all 
other abuses. The outcry against rate regulation is 
of much the same character as that I encountered 
when I was engaged in putting through that car- 
coupling business ; or in endeavoring to secure cer- 
tain legislation in which you have all been inter- ^ 
ested, such as the employers' liability law. 

Most certainly I will join with you in resisting 
to the uttermost any movement to hurt or damage 
any railroads which act decently, for I would hold 
that such damage was not merely to the capitalist, 
not merely to the wage-worker engaged on the rail- 
roads, but to all the country. My aim is to secure 



560 Presidential Addresses 

the just and equal treatment of the public by those 
(I trust and beheve a limited number) who do not 
want to give it, just as much as by the larger num- 
ber who do want to give it. All I want in any rate 
legislation is to give the Government an efficient 
supervisory power which shall be exercised as scru- 
pulously to prevent injustice to the railroads as to 
prevent their doing injustice to the public. Our 
endeavor is to see that those big railroad men and 
big shippers who are not responsive to the demands 
of justice are required to do what their fellows who 
are responsive to the demands of justice would be 
glad to do of their ow^n accord. 

MESSAGE COMMUNICATED TO THE TWO HOUSES 
OF CONGRESS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE 
FIRST SESSION OF THE FIFTY-NINTH CON- 
GRESS, DECEMBER 5, 1905. 

To the Senate and House of Representatives: 

The people of this country continue to enjoy great 
prosperity. Undoubtedly there will be ebb and flow 
in such prosperity, and this ebb and flow will be 
felt more or less by all members of the community, 
both by the deserving and the undeserv^ing. Against 
the wrath of the Lord the wisdom of man can not 
avail ; in times of flood or drought human ingenuity 
can but partially repair the disaster. A general 
failure of crops would hurt all of us. Again, if the 
folly of man mars the general wellbeing, then those 
who are innocent of the folly will have to pay part 
of the penalty incurred by those who are guilty of 



And State Papers 561 

the folly. A panic brought on by the speculative 
folly of part of the business community would hurt 
the whole business community. But such stoppage 
of welfare, though it might be severe, would not be 
lasting. In the long rmi the one vital factor in the 
permanent prosperity of the country is the high in- 
dividual character of the average American worker, 
the average American citizen, no matter whether 
his work be mental or manual, whether he be farmer 
or wage-worker, business man or professional man. 
In our industrial and social system the interests 
of all men are so closely intertwined that in the 
immense majority of cases a straight-dealing man 
who by his efficiency, by his ingenuity and industry, 
benefits himself must also benefit others. Normally 
the man of great productive capacity who becomes 
rich by guiding the labor of many other men does 
so by enabling them to produce more than they 
could produce without his guidance; and both he 
and they share in the benefit, which comes also to 
the public at large. The superficial fact that the 
sharing may be unequal must never blind us to the 
underlying fact that there is this sharing, and that 
the benefit comes in some degree to each man con- 
cerned. Normally the wage-worker, the man of 
small means, and the average consumer, as well^ as 
the average producer, are all alike helped by making 
conditions such that the man of exceptional busi- 
ness ability receives an exceptional reward for his 
ability. Something can be done by legislation to 
help the general prosperity; but no such help of 



562 Presidential Addresses 

a permanently beneficial character can be given to 
the less able and less fortunate, save as the results 
of a policy which shall inure to the advantage of all 
industrious and efficient people who act decently; 
and this is only another way of saying that any 
benefit which comes to the less able and less for- 
tunate must of necessity come even more to the more 
able and more fortunate. If, therefore, the less for- 
tunate man is moved by envy of his more fortunate 
brother to strike at the conditions under which they 
have both, though unequally, prospered, the result 
will assuredly be that while damage may come to 
the one struck at, it will visit with an even heavier 
load the one who strikes the blow. Taken as a 
whole, we must all go up or go down together. 

Yet, while not merely admitting, but insisting 
upon this, it is also true that where there is no 
governmental restraint or supervision some of the 
exceptional men use their energies not in ways 
that are for the common good, but in ways which 
tell against this common good. The fortunes 
amassed through corporate organization are now 
so large, and vest such power in those that wield 
them, as to make it a matter of necessity to give to 
the sovereign — that is, to the Government, which 
represents the people as a whole — some effective 
power of supervision over their corporate use. In 
order to ensure a healthy social and industrial life, 
every big corporation should be held responsible by, 
and be accountable to, some sovereign strong enough 



And State Papers ^6;^ 

to control its conduct. I am in no sense hostile to 
corporations. This is an age of combination, and 
any effort to prevent all combination will be not 
onl)' useless, but in the end vicious, because of the 
contempt for law which the failure to enforce law 
inevitably produces. We should, moreover, rec- 
ognize in cordial and ample fashion the immense 
good effected by corporate agencies in a country 
such as ours, and the wealth of intellect, energy, and 
fidelity devoted to their service, and therefore nor- 
mally to the Service of the public, by their officers 
and directors. The corporation has come to stay, 
just as the trade union has come to stay. Each can 
do and has done great good. Each should be fa- 
vored so long as it does good. But each should 
be sharply checked where it acts against law and 
justice. 

So long as the finances of the Nation are kept 
upon an honest basis no other question of internal 
economy with which the Congress has the power to 
deal begins to approach in importance the matter of 
endeavoring to secure proper industrial conditions 
under which the individuals — and especially the 
great corporations — doing an interstate business are 
to act. The makers of our National Constitution 
provided especially that the regulation of inter- 
state commerce should come within the sphere of the 
General Government. The arguments in favor of 
their taking this stand were even then overwhelm- 
ing. But they are far stronger to-day, in view 
of the enormous development of great business 



564 Presidential Addresses 

agencies, usually corporate in form. Experience 
has shown conclusively that it is useless to try 
to get any adequate regulation and supervision of 
these great corporations by State action. Such 
regulation and supervision can only be effectively 
exercised by a sovereign whose jurisdiction is co- 
extensive with the field of work of the corporations 
— that is, by the National Government. I believe 
that this regulation and supervision can be ob- 
tained by the enactment of law by the Congress. 
If this proves impossible, it will certainly be neces- 
sary ultimately to confer in fullest form such power 
upon the National Government by a proper amend- 
ment of the Constitution. It would obviously 
be unwise to endeavor to secure such an amend- 
ment until it is certain that the result can not be 
obtained under the Constitution as it now is. The 
laws of the Congress and of the several States 
hitherto, as passed upon by the courts, have re- 
sulted more often in showing that the States have 
no power in the matter than that the National Gov- 
ernment has power; so that there at present exists 
a very unfortunate condition of things, under which 
these great corporations doing an interstate busi- 
ness occupy the position of subjects without a sov- 
ereign, neither any State government nor the Na- 
tional Government having effective control over 
them. Our steady aim should be by legislation, 
cautiously and carefully undertaken, but resolutely 
persevered in, to assert the sovereignty of the Na- 
tional Government by affirmative action. 



And State Papers 5^5 

This is only in form an innovation. In sub- 
stance it is merely a restoration; for from the 
earliest time such regulation of industrial activi- 
ties has been recognized in the action of the law- 
making bodies; and all that I propose is to meet 
the changed conditions in such manner as will pre- 
vent the Commonwealth abdicating the power it 
has always possessed, not only in this country but 
also in England before and since this country became 
a separate Nation. 

It has been a misfortune that the national laws 
on this subject have hitherto been of a negative or 
prohibitive rather than an affirmative kind, and still 
more that they have in part sought to prohibit what 
could not be effectively prohibited, and have in part 
in their prohibitions confounded what should be 
allowed and what should not be allowed. It is gen- 
erally useless to try to prohibit all restraint on com- 
petition, whether this restraint be reasonable or 
unreasonable; and where it is not useless it is gen- 
erally hurtful. Events have shown that it is not 
possible adequately to secure the enforcement of any 
law of this kind by incessant appeal to the courts. 
The Department of Justice has for the last four 
years devoted more attention to the enforcement 
of the anti-trust legislation than to anything else. 
Much has been accomplished; particularly marked 
has been the moral effect of the prosecutions ; but 
it is increasingly evident that there will be a very 
insufficient beneficial result in the way of economic 
change. The successful prosecution of one device 



S^^ Presidential Addresses 

to evade the law immediately develops another 
device to accomplish the same purpose. What is 
needed is not sweeping prohibition of every arrange- 
ment, good or bad, which may tend to restrict com- 
petition, but such adequate supervision and regiila- 
tion as will prevent any restriction of competition 
from being to the detriment of the pubhc, as well 
as such supervision and regulation as will prevent 
other abuses in no way connected with restriction 
of competition. Of these abuses, perhaps the chief, 
although by no means the only one, is overcapital- 
ization — generally itself the result of dishonest pro- 
motion — because of the myriad evils it brings in its 
train ; for such overcapitalization often means an in- 
flation that invites business panic ; it always conceals 
the true relation of the profit earned to the capital 
actually invested, and it creates a burden of inter- 
est payments which is a fertile cause of improper 
reduction in or limitation of wages ; it damages the 
small investor, discourages thrift, and encourages 
gambling and speculation; while perhaps worst of 
all is the trickiness and dishonesty which it implies 
— for harm to morals is worse than any possible 
harm to material interests, and the debauchery of 
politics and business by great dishonest corpora- 
tions is far worse than any actual material evil they 
do the public. Until the National Government ob- 
tains, in some manner which the wisdom of the 
Congress may suggest, proper control over the big 
corporations engaged in interstate commerce — that 
is, over the great majority of the big corporations — 



And State Papers 567 

it will be impossible to deal adequately with these 
evils. 

I am well aware of the difficvilties of the legisla- 
tion that I am suggesting, and of the need of tem- 
perate and cautious action in securing it. I should 
emphatically protest against improperly radical or 
hasty action. The first thing to do is to deal with the 
great corporations engaged in the business of in- 
terstate transportation. As I said in my Message 
of December 6 last, the immediate and most press- 
ing need, so far as legislation is concerned, is the 
enactment into law of some scheme to secure to the 
agents of the Government such supervision and 
regulation of the rates charged by the railroads of 
the country engaged in interstate traffic as shall 
summarily and effectively prevent the imposition of 
unjust or unreasonable rates. It must include put- 
ting a complete stop to rebates in every shape and 
form. This power to regulate rates, like all similar 
powers over the business world, should be exer- 
cised with moderation, caution, and self-restraint; 
but it should exist, so that it can be effectively ex- 
ercised when the need arises. 

The first consideration to be kept in mind is that 
the power should be affirmative and should be given 
to some administrative body created by the Con- 
gress. If given to the present Interstate Commerce 
Commission or to a reorganized Interstate Com- 
merce Commission, such commission should be made 
unequivocally administrative. I do not believe in 
the Government interfering with private business 



568 Presidential Addresses 

more than is necessary. I do not believe in the 
Government undertaking any work which can with 
propriety be left in private hands. But neither do 
I believe in the Government flinching from over- 
seeing any work when it becomes evident that 
abuses are sure to obtain therein unless there is 
governmental supervision. It is not my province to 
indicate the exact terms of the law which should be 
enacted ; but I call the attention of the Congress to 
certain existing conditions with which it is desir- 
able to deal. In my judgment the most important 
provision which such law should contain is that con- 
ferring upon some competent administrative body 
the power to decide, upon the case being brought 
before it, whether a given rate prescribed by a rail- 
road is reasonable and just, and if it is found to be 
unreasonable and unjust, then, after full investiga- 
tion of the complaint, to prescribe the limit of rate 
beyond which it shall not be lawful to go — the 
maximum reasonable rate, as it is commonly called 
— this decision to go into effect within a reasonable 
time and to obtain from thence onward, subject to 
review by the courts. It sometimes happens at pres- 
ent, not that a rate is too high but that a favored 
shipper is given too low a rate. In such case the 
Commission would have the right to fix this already 
established minimum rate as the maximum; and it 
would need only one or two such decisions by the 
Commission to cure railroad companies of the prac- 
tice of giving improper minimum rates. I call your 
attention to the fact that my proposal is not to give 



And State Papers 569 

the Commission power to initiate or originate rates 
generally, but to regulate a rate already fixed or 
originated by the roads, upon complaint and after 
investigation. A heavy penalty should be exacted 
from any corporation which fails to respect an order 
of the Commission. I regard this power to estab- 
lish a maximum rate as being essential to any 
scheme of real reform in the matter of railway 
regulation. The first necessity is to secure it; and 
unless it is granted to the Commission there is little 
use in touching the subject at all. 

Illegal transactions often occur under the forms 
of law. It has often occurred that a shipper has 
been told by a traffic officer to buy a large quantity 
of some commodity and then after it has been bought 
an open reduction is made in the rate to take effect 
immediately, the arrangement resulting to the profit 
of the one shipper and the one railroad and to the 
damage of all their competitors ; for it must not be 
forgotten that the big shippers are at least as much 
to blame as any railroad in the matter of rebates. 
The law should make it clear so that nobody can 
fail to understand that any kind of commission paid 
on freight shipments, whether in this form or in the 
form of fictitious damages, or of a concession, a 
free pass, reduced passenger rate, or payment of 
brokerage, is illegal. It is worth while considering 
whether it would not be wise to confer on the Gov- 
ernment the right of civil action against the bene- 
ficiary of a rebate for at least twice the value of the 
rebate ; this would help stop what is really blackmail. 



570 Presidential Addresses 

Elevator allowances should be stopped, for they 
have now grown to such an extent that they are 
demoralizing and are used as rebates. 

The best possible regulation of rates would, of 
course, be that regulation secured by an honest 
agreement among the railroads themselves to carry 
out the law. Such a general agreement would, for 
instance, at once put a stop to the efforts of any 
one big shipper or big railroad to discriminate 
against or secure advantages over some rival ; and 
such agreement would make the railroads them- 
selves agents for enforcing the law. The power 
vested in the Government to put a stop to agree- 
ments to the detriment of the public should, in my 
judgment, be accompanied by power to permit, un- 
der specified conditions and careful supervision, 
agreements clearly in the interest of the public. But, 
in my judgment, the necessity for giving this fur- 
ther power is by no means as great as the necessity, 
for giving the Commission or administrative body 
the other powers I have enumerated above; and it 
may well be inadvisable to attempt to vest this par- 
ticular power in the Commission or other adminis- 
trative body until it already possesses and is exer- 
cising what I regard as by far the most important 
of all the powers I recommend — as indeed the 
vitally important power — that to fix a given maxi- 
mum rate, which rate, after the lapse of a reason- 
able time, goes into full effect, subject to review by 
the courts. 

All private-car lines, industrial roads, refrigera- 



And State Papers 571 

tor charges, and the Hke should be expressly put 
under the supervision of the Interstate Commerce 
Commission or some similar body so far as rates, 
and agreements practically affecting rates, are con- 
cerned. The private-car owners and the owners of 
industrial railroads are entitled to a fair and rea- 
sonable compensation on their investment, but 
neither private cars nor industrial railroads nor 
spur tracks should be utilized as devices for secur- 
ing preferential rates. A rebate in icing charges, or 
in mileage, or in a division of the rate for refrig- 
erating charges is just as pernicious as a rebate in 
any other way. No lower rate should apply on 
goods imported than actually obtains on domestic 
goods from the American seaboard to destination 
except in cases where water competition is the 
controlling influence. There should be publicity of 
the accounts of common carriers; no common car- 
rier engaged in interstate business should keep any 
books or memoranda other than those reported pur- 
suant to law or regulation, and these books or mem- 
oranda should be open to the inspection of the Gov- 
ernment. Only in this way can violations or eva- 
sions of the law be surely detected. A system of 
examination of railroad accounts should be provided 
similar to that now conducted into the national banks 
by the bank examiners: a few first-class railroad 
accountants, if they had proper direction and proper 
authority to inspect books and papers, could accom- 
plish much in preventing wilful violations of the 
law. It would not be necessary for them to ex- 



572 Presidential Addresses 

amine into the accounts of any railroad unless for 
good reasons they were directed to do so by the 
Interstate Commerce Commission. It is greatly to 
be desired that some way might be found by which 
an agreement as to transportation within a State 
intended to operate as a fraud upon the Federal 
interstate commerce laws could be brought under 
the jurisdiction of the Federal authorities. At pres- 
ent it occurs that large shipments of interstate traffic 
are controlled by concessions on purely State busi- 
ness, which of course amounts to an evasion of the 
law. The Commission should have power to enforce 
fair treatment by the great trunk lines of lateral 
and branch lines. 

I urge upon the Congress the need of providing 
for expeditious action by the Interstate Commerce 
Commission in all these matters, whether in regu- 
lating rates for transportation or for storing or 
for handling property or commodities in transit. 
The history of the cases litigated under the present 
commerce act shows that its efficacy has been to a 
great degree destroyed by the weapon of delay, al- 
most the most formidable weapon in the hands of 
those whose purpose it is to violate the law. 

Let me most earnestly say that tliese recommen- 
dations are not made in any spirit of hostility to the 
railroads. On ethical grounds, on grounds of right, 
such hostility would be intolerable ; and on grounds 
of mere national self-interest we must remember 
that such hostility would tell against the welfare not 
merely of some few rich men, but of a multitude of 



And State Papers 573 

small investors, a multitude of railway empl6yees, 
wage-workers ; and most severely against the in- 
terest of the public as a whole. I believe that on the 
whole our railroads have done well and not ill ; but 
the railroad men who wish to do well should not 
be exposed to competition with those who have no 
such desire, and the only way to secure this end is 
to give to some Government tribunal the power to 
see that justice is done by the unwilling exactly as 
it is gladly done by the willing. Moreover, if some 
Government body is given increased power the 
effect will be to furnish authoritative answer on 
behalf of the railroad whenever irrational clamor 
against it is raised, or whenever charges made 
against it are disproved. I ask this legislation not 
only in the interest of the public, but in the interest 
of the honest railroad man and the honest shipper 
alike, for it is they who are chiefly jeoparded by the 
practices of their dishonest competitors. This leg- 
islation should be enacted in a spirit as remote as 
possible from hysteria and rancor. If we of the 
American body politic are true to the traditions we 
have inherited we shall always scorn any effort to 
make us hate any man because he is rich, just as 
much as we should scorn any effort to make us look 
down upon or treat contemptuously any man be- 
cause he is poor. We judge a man by his conduct — 
that is, by his character — and not by his wealth or 
intellect. If he makes his fortune honestly, there is 
no just cause of quarrel with him. Indeed, we have 
nothing but the kindliest feelings of admiration for 



574 Presidential Addresses 

the sficcessful business man who behaves decently, 
whether he has made his success by building or man- 
aging a railroad or by shipping goods over that 
railroad. The big railroad men and big shippers 
are simply Americans of the ordinary type who 
have developed to an extraordinary degree certain 
great business qualities. They are neither better 
nor worse than their fellow-citizens of smaller 
means. They are merely more able in certain lines 
and therefore exposed to certain peculiarly strong 
temptations. These temptations have not sprung 
newly into being; the exceptionally successful among 
mankind have always been exposed to them; but 
they have grown amazingly in power as a result 
of the extraordinary development of industrialism 
along new lines, and under these new conditions, 
which the lawmakers of old could not foresee and 
therefore could not provide against, they have be- 
come so serious and menacing as to demand entirely 
new remedies. It is in the interest of the best type 
of railroad man and the best type of shipper no less 
than of the public that there should be governmental 
supervision and regulation of these great business 
operations, for the same reason that it is in the 
interest of the corporation which wishes to treat its 
employees aright that there should be an effective 
employers' liability act, or an effective system of 
factory laws to prevent the abuse of women and 
children. All such legislation frees the corporation 
that wishes to do well from being driven into doing 
ill, in order to compete with its rival, which prefers 



And State Papers 575 

to do ill. We desire to set up a moral standard. 
There can be no delusion more fatal to the Nation 
than the delusion that the standard of profits, of 
business prosperity, is sufficient in judging any busi- 
ness or political question — from rate legislation to 
municipal government. Business success, whether 
for the individual or for the Nation, is a good thing 
only so far as it is accompanied by and develops a 
high standard of conduct — honor, integrity, civic 
courage. The kind of business prosperity that 
blunts the standard of honor, that puts an inordinate 
value on mere wealth, that makes a man ruthless 
and conscienceless in trade and weak and cowardly 
in citizenship, is not a good thing at all, but a very 
bad thing for the Nation. This Government stands 
for manhood first and for business only as an ad- 
junct of manhood. 

The question of transportation lies at the root of 
all industrial success, and the revolution in trans- 
portation which has taken place during the last half 
century has been the most important factor in the 
p-rowth of the new industrial conditions. Most 
emphatically we do not wish to see the man of great 
talents refused the reward for his talents. Still less 
do we wish to see him penalized; but we do desire 
to see the system of railroad transportation so han- 
dled that the strong man shall be given no advan- 
tage over the weak man. We wish to ensure as fair 
treatment for the small town as for the big city ; for 
the small shipper as for the big shipper. In the 
old days the highway of commerce, whether by 



576 Presidential Addresses 

water or by road on land, was open to all; it be- 
longed to the public and the traffic along it was free. 
At present the railway is this highway, and we must 
do our best to see that it is kept open to all on equal 
terms. Unlike the old highway it is a very difficult 
and complex thing to manage, and it is far better 
that it should be managed by private individuals 
than by the Government. But it can only be so 
managed on condition that justice is done the pub- 
lic. It is because, in my judgment, public owner- 
ship of railroads is highly undesirable and would 
probably in this country entail far-reaching disaster, 
that I wish to see such supervision and regulation 
of them in the interest of the public as will make it 
evident that there is no need for public ownership. 
The opponents of Government regulation dwell 
upon the difficulties to be encountered and the in- 
tricate and involved nature of the problem. Their 
contention is true. It is a complicated and deli- 
cate problem, and all kinds of difficulties are sure to 
arise in connection with any plan of solution, while 
no plan will bring all the benefits hoped for by its 
more optimistic adherents. Moreover, under any 
healthy plan, the benefits will develop gradually and 
not rapidly. Finally, we must clearly understand 
that the public servants who are to do this peculiarly 
responsible and delicate work must themselves be 
of the highest type both as regards integrity and 
efficiency. They must be well paid, for otherwise 
able men can not in the long run be secured; and 
they must possess a lofty probity which will revolt 



And State Papers 577 

as quickly at the thought of pandering to any gust 
of popular prejudice against rich men as at the 
thought of anything even remotely resembling sub- 
serviency to rich men. But while I fully admit the 
difficulties in the way, I do not for a moment admit 
that these difficulties warrant us in stopping in our 
effort to secure a wise and just system. They should 
have no other effect than to spur us on to the ex- 
ercise of the resolution, the even-handed justice, and 
the fertility of resource, which we like to think of 
as typically American, and which will in the end 
achieve good results in this as in other fields of ac- 
tivity. The task is a great one and underlies the 
task of dealing with the whole industrial problem. 
But the fact that it is a great problem does not war- 
rant us in shrinking from the attempt to solve it. At 
present we face such utter lack of supen'ision, such 
freedom from the restraints of law, that excellent 
men have often been literally forced into doing what 
they deplored because otherwise they were left at 
the mercy of unscrupulous competitors. To rail at 
and assail the men who have done as they best could 
under such conditions accomplishes little. What 
we need to do is to develop an orderly system ; and 
such a system can only come through the gradually 
increased exercise of the right of efficient Govern- 
ment control. 

In my annual Message to the Fifty-eighth Con- 
gress, at its third session, I called attention to the 
necessity for legislation requiring the use of block 

10— \'0L. XVI 



578 Presidential Addresses 

signals upon railroads engaged in interstate com- 
merce. The number of serious collisions upon un- 
blocked roads that have occurred within the past 
year adds force to the recommendation then made. 
The Congress should provide, by appropriate legis- 
lation, for the introduction of block signals upon 
all railroads engaged in interstate commerce at the 
earliest practicable date, as a measure of increased 
safety to the traveling public. 

Through decisions of the Supreme Court of the 
United States and the lower Federal courts in cases 
brought before them for adjudication the safety- 
appliance law has been materially strengthened, and 
the Government has been enabled to secure its effec- 
tive enforcement in almost all cases, with the result 
that the condition of railroad equipment through- 
out the country is much improved and railroad em- 
ployees perform their duties under safer conditions 
than heretofore. The Government's most effective 
aid in arriving at this result has been its inspection 
service, and that these improved conditions are not 
more general is due to the insufficient number of in- 
spectors employed. The inspection service has fully 
demonstrated its usefulness, and in appropriating 
for its maintenance the Congress should make pro- 
vision for an increase in the number of inspectors. 

The excessive hours of labor to which railroad 
employees in train service are in many cases sub- 
jected is also a matter which may well engage the 
serious attention of the Congress. The strain, both 



And State Papers 579 

mental and physical, upon those who are engaged 
in the movement and operation of railroad trains 
under modern conditions is perhaps greater than 
that which exists in any other industry, and if there 
are any reasons for limiting by law the hours of 
labor in any employment, they certainly apply with 
peculiar force to the employment of those upon 
whose vigilance and alertness in the performance of 
their duties the safety of all who travel by rail 
depends. 

In my annual Message to the Fifty-seventh Con- 
gress at its second session, I recommended the pas- 
sage of an Employers' Liability Law for the District 
of Columbia and in our navy yards. I renewed that 
recommendation in my Message to the Fifty-eighth 
Congress, at its second session, and further sug- 
gested the appointment of a commission to make a 
comprehensive study of employers' liability, with a 
view to the enactment of a wise and constitutional 
law covering the subject, applicable to all industries 
within the scope of the Federal power. I hope that 
such a law will be prepared and enacted as speedily 
as possible. 

The National Government has as a rule but little 
occasion to deal with the formidable group of prob- 
lems connected more or less directly with what is 
known as the labor question, for in the great ma- 
jority of cases these problems must be dealt with by 
the State and municipal authorities and not by the 



580 Presidential Addresses 

National Government. The National Government 
has control of the District of Columbia, however, 
and it should see to it that the City of Washington 
is made a model city in all respects, both as regards 
parks, pubhc playgrounds, proper regulation of the 
system of housing so as to do away with the evils 
of alley tenements, a proper system of education, a 
proper system of dealing with truancy and juvenile 
offenders, a proper handling of the charitable work 
of the District. Moreover, there should be proper 
factory laws to prevent all abuses in the employment 
of women and children in the District. These will 
be useful chiefly as object lessons, but even this lim- 
ited amount of usefulness would be of real national 
value. 

There has been demand for depriving courts of 
the power to issue injunctions in labor disputes. 
Such special limitation of the equity powers of our 
courts would be most unwise. It is true that some 
judges have misused this power ; but this does not 
justify a denial of the power any more than an im- 
proper exercise of the power to call a strike by a 
labor leader would justify the denial of the right to 
strike. The remedy is to regulate the procedure by 
requiring the judge to give due notice to the adverse 
parties before granting the writ, the hearing to be 
ex parte if the adverse party does not appear at the 
time and place ordered. What is due notice must 
depend upon the facts of the case ; it should not be 
used as a pretext to permit violation of the law, or 
the jeopardizing of life or property. Of course, this 



And State Papers 581 

would not authorize the issuing of a restraining 
order or injunction in any case in which it is not 
already authorized by existing law. 

I renew the recommendation I made in my last 
annual xMessage for an investigation by the Depart- 
ment of Commerce and Labor of general labor con- 
ditions, especial attention to be paid to the condi- 
tions of child labor and child-labor legislation in the 
several States. Such an investigation should take 
into account the various problems with which the 
question of child labor is connected. It is true that 
these problems can be actually met In most cases 
only by the States themselves, but it would be well 
for the Nation to endeavor to secure and publish 
comprehensive Information as to the conditions of 
the labor of children In the different States, so as to 
spur up those that are behindhand, and to secure ap- 
proximately uniform legislation of a high character 
among the several States. In such a Republic as 
ours the one thing that we can not afford to neglect 
is the problem of turning out decent citizens. The 
future of the Nation depends upon the citizenship 
of the generations to come ; the children of to-day 
are those who to-morrow will shape the destiny of 
our land, and we can not afford to neglect them. 
The Legislature of Colorado has recommended that 
the Na^tlonal Government provide some general 
measure for the protection from abuse of children 
and dumb animals throughout the United States 1 
lay the matter before you for what I trust will be 
your favorable consideration. 



582 Presidential Addresses 

The Department of Commerce and Labor should 
also make a thorough investigation of the condi- 
tions of women in industry. Over five million 
American women are now engaged in gainful occu- 
pations; yet there is an almost complete dearth of 
data upon which to base any trustworthy conclu- 
sions as regards a subject as important as it is vast 
and complicated. There is need of full knowledge 
on which to base action looking toward State and 
municipal legislation for the protection of working 
women. The introduction of women into industry 
is working change and disturbance in the domestic 
and social life of the Nation. The decrease in mar- 
riage, and especially in the birth rate, has been coin- 
cident with it. We must face accomplished facts, 
and the adjustment to factory conditions must be 
made; but surely it can be made with less friction 
and less harmful effects on family life than is now 
the case. This whole matter in reality forms one of 
the greatest sociological phenomena of our time; it 
is a social question of the first importance, of far 
greater importance than any merely political or 
economic question can be; and to solve it we need 
ample data, gathered in a sane and scientific spirit 
in the course of an exhaustive investigation. 

In any great labor disturbance not only are em- 
ployer and employee interested, but also a third 
party — the general public. Every considerable labor 
difficulty in which interstate commerce is involved 
should be investigated by the Government and the 
facts officially reported to the public. 



And State Papers 583 

The question of securing a healthy, self-respect- 
ing, and mutually sympathetic attitude as between 
employer and employee, capitalist and wage-worker, 
is a difficult one. All phases of the labor problem 
prove difficult when approached. But the underly- 
ing principles, the root principles, in accordance with 
which the problem must be solved are entirely sim- 
ple. We can get justice and right dealing only if 
we put as of paramount importance the principle of 
treating a man on his worth as a man rather than 
with reference to his social position, his occupation, 
or the class to which he belongs. There are selfish 
and brutal men in all ranks of life. If they are capi- 
talists their selfishness and brutality may take the 
form of hard indifference to suffering, greedy disre- 
gard of every moral restraint which interferes with 
the accumulation of wealth, and cold-blooded exploi- 
tation of the weak; or, if they are laborers, the 
form of laziness, of sullen envy of the more fortu- 
nate, and of willingness to perform deeds of mur- 
derous violence. Such conduct is just as reprehen- 
sible in one case as in the other, and all honest and 
far-seeing men should join in warring against it 
wherever it becomes manifest. Individual capitalist 
and individual wage-worker, corporation and union, 
are alike entitled to the protection of the law, and 
must alike obey the law. Moreover, in addition to 
mere obedience to the law, each man, if he be really 
a good citizen, must show broad sympathy for his 
neighbor and genuine desire to look at any question 
arising between them from the standpoint of that 



584 Presidential Addresses 

neighbor no less than from his own ; and to this end 
it is essential that capitaHst and wage-worker should 
consult freely one with the other, should each strive 
to bring closer the day when both shall realize that 
they are properly partners and not enemies. To ap- 
proach the questions which inevitably arise between 
them solely from the standpoint which treats each 
side in the mass as the enemy of the other side in 
the mass is both wicked and foolish. In the past 
the most direful among the influences which have 
brought about the downfall of republics has ever 
been the growth of the class spirit, the growth of 
the spirit which tends to make a man subordinate 
the welfare of the public as a whole to the welfare 
of the particular class to which he belongs, the sub- 
stitution of loyalty to a class for loyalty to the Na- 
tion. This inevitably brings about a tendency to 
treat each man not on his merits as an individual, 
but on his position as belonging to a certain class 
in the community. If such a spirit grows up in this 
Republic it will ultimately prove fatal to us, as in 
the past it has proved fatal to every community in 
which it has become dominant. Unless we continue 
to keep a quick and lively sense of the great fun- 
damental truth that our concern is with the indi- 
vidual worth of the individual man, this Government 
can not permanently hold the place which it has 
achieved among the nations. The vital lines of 
cleavage among our people do not correspond, and 
indeed run at right angles, to the lines of cleavage 
which divide occupation from occupation, which di-, 



And State Papers 585 

vide wage-workers from capitalists, farmers from 
bankers, men of small means from men of large 
means, men who live in the towns from men who 
live in the country ; for the vital line of cleavage is 
the line which divides the honest man who tries to 
do well by his neighbor from the dishonest man who 
does ill by his neighbor. In other words, the stand- 
ard we should establish is the standard of conduct, 
not the standard of occupation, of means, or of so- 
cial position. It is the man's moral quality, his 
attitude toward the great questions which concern 
all humanity, his cleanliness of life, his power to do 
his duty toward himself and toward others, which 
really count; and if we substitute for the standard 
of personal judgment which treats each man accord- 
ing to his merits, another standard in accordance 
with which all men of one class are favored and all 
men of another class discriminated against, we shall 
do irreparable damage to the body politic. I be- 
lieve that our people are too sane, too self-respecting, 
too fit for self-government, ever to adopt such an 
attitude. This Government is not and never shall 
be government by a plutocracy. This Government 
is not and never shall be government by a mob. It 
shall continue to be in the future what it has been 
in the past, a government based on the theory that 
each man, rich or poor, is to be treated simply and 
solely on his worth as a man. that all his personal 
and property rights are to be safeguarded, and that 
he is neither to wrong others nor to suffer wrong 
from others. 



586 Presidential Addresses 

The noblest of all forms of government is self- 
government; but it is also the most difficult. We 
who possess this priceless boon, and who desire to 
hand it on to our children and our children's chil- 
dren, should ever bear in mind the thought so finely 
expressed by Burke : "Men are qualified for civil 
liberty in exact proportion to their disposition to 
put moral chains upon their own appetites; in pro- 
portion as they are disposed to listen to the coun- 
sels of the wise and good in preference to the 
flattery of knaves. Society can not exist unless a 
controlling power upon will and appetite be placed 
somewhere, and the less of it there be within the 
more there must be without. It is ordained in the 
eternal constitution of things that men of intemper- 
ate minds can not be free. Their passions forge 
their fetters." 

The great insurance companies afford striking 
examples of corporations whose business has ex- 
tended so far beyond the jurisdiction of the States 
which created them as to preclude strict enforce- 
ment of supervision and regulation by the parent 
States. In my last annual Message I recommended 
"that the Congress carefully consider whether the 
power of the Bureau of Corporations can not con- 
stitutionally be extended to cover interstate transac- 
tions in insurance." Recent events have emphasized 
the importance of an early and exhaustive consid- 
eration of this question, to see whether it is not pos- 
sible to furnish better safeguards than the several 



And State Papers 587 

States have been able to furnish against corruption 
of the flagrant kind which has been exposed. It 
has been only too clearly shown that certain of the 
men at the head of these large corporations take 
but small note of the ethical distinction between 
honesty and dishonesty ; they draw the line only this 
side of what may be called law-honesty, the kind 
of honesty necessary in order to avoid falling into 
the clutches of the law. Of course the only com- 
plete remedy for this condition must be found in an 
aroused public conscience, a higher sense of ethical 
conduct in the community at large, and especially 
among business men and in the great profession 
of the law, and in the growth of a spirit which con- 
demns all dishonesty, whether in rich man or in 
poor man. whether it takes the shape of bribery or 
of blackmail. But much can be done by legislation 
which is not only drastic but practical. There is 
need of a far stricter and more uniform regulation 
of the vast insurance interests of this country. The 
United States should in this respect follow the policy 
of other nations by providing adequate national 
super\'ision of commercial interests which are clearly 
national in character. My predecessors have repeat- 
edly recognized that the foreign business of these 
companies is an important part of our foreign com- 
mercial relations. During the Administrations of 
Presidents Cleveland, Harrison, and McKinley the 
State Department exercised its influence, through 
diplomatic channels, to prevent unjust discrimina- 
tion by foreign countries against American insur- 



588 Presidential Addresses 

ance companies. These negotiations illustrated the 
propriety of the Congress recognizing the national 
character of insurance, for in the absence of Federal 
legislation the State Department could only give ex- 
pression to the wishes of the authorities of the 
several States, whose policy was ineffective through 
want of uniformity, 

I repeat my previous recommendation that the 
Congress should also consider whether the Federal 
Government has any power or owes any duty with 
respect to domestic transactions in insurance of an 
interstate character. That State supervision has 
proved inadequate is generally conceded. The bur- 
den upon insurance companies, and therefore their 
policy-holders, of conflicting regulations of many 
States, is unquestioned, while but little effective 
check is imposed upon any able and unscrupulous 
man who desires to exploit the company in his own 
interest at the expense of the policy-holders and of 
the public. The inability of a State to regiilate 
effectively insurance corporations created under the 
laws of other States and transacting the larger part 
of their business elsewhere is also clear. As a rem- 
edy for this evil of conflicting, ineffective, and yet 
burdensome regulations there has been for many 
years a widespread demand for Federal supervision. 
The Congress has already recognized that interstate 
insurance may be a proper subject for Federal leg- 
islation, for in creating the Bureau of Corpora- 
tions it authorized it to publish and supply useful 
information concerning interstate corporations, "in- 



And State Papers 589 

eluding corporations engaged in insurance." It is 
obvious that if the compilation of statistics be the 
limit of the Federal power, it is wholly ineffective 
to regulate this form of commercial intercourse be- 
tween the States, and as the insurance business has 
outgrown in magnitude the possibility of adequate 
State supervision, the Congress should carefully 
consider whether further legislation can be had. 
What is said above applies with equal force to fra- 
ternal and benevolent organizations which contract 
for life insurance. 

There is more need of stability than of the at- 
tempt to attain an ideal perfection in the methods 
of raising revenue ; and the shock and strain to the 
business world certain to attend any serious change 
in these methods render such change inadvisable 
unless for grave reason. It is not possible to lay 
down any general rule by which to determine the 
moment when the reasons for will outweigh the 
reasons against such a change. Much must de- 
pend, not merely on the needs, but on the desires, 
of the people as a whole ; for needs and desires are 
not necessarily identical. Of course no change can 
be made on lines beneficial to, or desired by, one sec- 
tion or one State only. There must be something 
like a general agreement among the citizens of the 
several States, as represented in the Congress, that 
the change is needed and desired in the interest of 
the people as a whole; and there should then be a 
sincere, intelligent, and disinterested effort to make 



590 Presidential Addresses 

it in such shape as will combine, so far as possible, 
the maximum of good to the people at large with 
the minimum of necessary disregard for the special 
interests of localities or classes. But in time of 
peace the revenue must on the average, taking a 
series of years together, equal the expenditures, or 
else the revenues must be increased. Last year 
there was a deficit. Unless our expenditures can 
be kept within the revenues then our revenue laws 
must be readjusted. It is as yet too early to attempt 
to outline what shape such a readjustment should 
take, for it is as yet too early to say whether there 
will be need for it. It should be considered whether 
it is not desirable that the tariff laws should pro- 
vide for applying as against or in favor of any other 
nation maximum and minimum tariff rates estab- 
. lished by the Congress, so as to secure a certain reci- 
procity of treatment between other nations and our- 
selves. Having in view even larger considerations 
of policy than those of a purely economic nature, 
it would, in my judgment, be well to endeavor to 
bring about closer commercial connections with the 
other peoples of this continent. I am happy to be 
able to announce to you that Russia now treats us 
on the most-favored-nation basis. 

I earnestly recommend to the Congress the need 
of economy and to this end of a rigid scrutiny of 
appropriations. As examples merely. I call your 
attention to one or two specific matters. All un- 
necessary offices should be abolished. The Commis- 



And State Papers 59' 

sioner of the General Land Office recommends the 
abohshment of the office of receiver of public moneys 
for United States land offices. This will effect a 
saving of about a quarter of a million dollars a 
year. As the business of the Nation grows it is 
inevitable that there should be from time to time a 
legitimate increase in the number of officials, and 
this fact renders it all the more important that when 
offices become unnecessary they should be abolished. 
In the public printing also a large saving of public 
money can be made. There is a constantly growmg 
tendency to publish masses of unimportant informa- 
tion. It is probably not unfair to say that many 
tens of thousands of volumes are published at which 
no human being ever looks and for which there is 
no real demand whatever. 

Yet, in speaking of economy, I must in no wise 
be understood as advocating the false economy 
which is in the end the worst extravagance. To cut 
down on the Navy, for instance, would be a crime 
against the Nation. To fail to push forward all 
work on the Panama Canal would be as great a 
folly. 

In my Message of December 2, 1902, to the Con- 
gress I said : 

"Interest rates are a potent factor In business ac- 
tivity and in order that these rates may be equalized 
to meet the varying needs of the seasons and of 
widely separated communities, and to prevent the 
recurrence of financial stringencies which injuri- 



59^ Presidential Addresses 

ously affect legitimate business, it is necessary that 
there should be an element of elasticity in our mone- 
tary system. Banks are the natural servants of 
commerce, and upon them should be placed, as far 
as practicable, the burden of furnishing and main- 
taining a circulation adequate to supply the needs 
of our diversified industries and of our domestic and 
foreign commerce; and the issue of this should be 
so regulated that a sufficient supply should be always 
available for the business interests of the country." 
Every consideration of prudence demands the ad- 
dition of the element of elasticity to our currency 
system. The evil does not consist in an inadequate 
volume of money, but in the rigidity of this vol- 
ume, which does not respond as it should to the 
varying needs of communities and of seasons. In- 
flation must be avoided ; but some provision should 
be made that will ensure a larger volume of money 
during the fall and winter months than in the less 
active seasons of the year ; so that the currency will 
contract against speculation, and will expand for the 
needs of legitimate business. At present the Treas- 
ury Department is at irregularly recurring intervals 
obliged, in the interest of the business world — that 
is, in the interest of the American public — to try to 
avert financial crises by providing a remedy which 
should be provided by Congressional action. 

At various times I have instituted investigations 
into the organization and conduct of the business of 
the Executive Departments. While none of these 



And State Papers 593 

inquiries have yet progressed far enough to warrant 
final conclusions, they have already confirmed and 
emphasized the general impression that the organi- 
zation of the Departments is often faulty in principle 
and wasteful in results, while many of their business 
methods are antiquated and inefficient. There is 
every reason why our executive governmental ma- 
chinery should be at least as well planned, econom- 
ical, and efficient as the best machinery of the great 
business organizations, which at present is not the 
case. To make it so is a task of complex detail and 
essentially executive in its nature ; probably no leg- 
islative body, no matter how wise and able, could 
undertake it with reasonable prospect of success.^ I 
recommend that the Congress consider this subject 
with a view to provide by legislation for the trans- 
fer, distribution, consolidation, and assignment of 
duties and executive organizations or parts of or- 
ganizations, and for the changes in business meth- 
ods, within or between the several Departments, that 
will best promote the economy, efficiency, and high 
character of the Government work. 

In my last annual Message I said : 

"The power of the Government to protect the 
integrity of the elections of its own officials is in- 
herent and has been recognized and affirmed by re- 
peated declarations of the Supreme Court. There 
is no enemy of free government more dangerous and 
none so insidious as the corruption of the electorate. 
No one defends or excuses corruption, and it would 



594 Presidential Addresses 

seem to follow that none would oppose vigorous 
measures to eradicate it. I recommend the enact- 
ment of a law directed against bribery and corrup- 
ton in Federal elections. The details of such a law 
may be safely left to the wise discretion of the 
Congress, but it should go as far as under the Con- 
stitution it is possible to go, and should include 
severe penalties against him who gives or receives 
a bribe intended to influence his act or opinion as 
an elector; and provisions for the publication not 
only of the expenditures for nominations and elec- 
tions of all candidates, but also of all contributions 
received and expenditures made by political com- 
mittees." 

I desire to repeat this recommendation. In politi- 
cal campaigns in a country as large and populous as 
ours it is inevitable that there should be much ex- 
pense of an entirely legitimate kind. This, of course, 
means that many contributions, and some of them 
of large size, must be made, and, as a matter of fact, 
in any big political contest such contributions are 
always made to both sides. It is entirely proper 
both to give and receive them, unless there is an 
improper motive connected with either gift or recep- 
tion. If they are extorted by any kind of pressure 
or promise, express or implied, direct or indirect, 
in the way of favor or immunity, then the giving or 
receiving becomes not only improper but criminal. 
It will undoubtedly be difficult as a matter of prac- 
tical detail to shape an act which shall guard with 
reasonable certainty against such misconduct; but 



And State Papers 595 

i£ it is possible to secure by law the full and verified 
publication in detail of all the sums contributed to 
and expended by the candidates or committees of 
any political parties the result can not but be whole- 
some. All contributions by corporations to any po- 
litical committee or for any political purpose should 
be forbidden by law ; directors should not be per- 
mitted to use stockholders' money for such purposes; 
and, moreover, a prohibition of this kind would be, 
as far as it went, an effective method of stopping the 
evils aimed at in corrupt practices acts. Not only 
should both the National and the several State leg- 
islatures forbid any officer of a corporation from 
using the money of the corporation in or about any 
election, but they should also forbid such use of 
money in connection with any legislation save by 
the employment of counsel in public manner for dis- 
tinctly legal services. 

The first Conference of Nations held at The 
Hague in 1899, being unable to dispose of all the 
business before it, recommended the consideration 
and settlement of a number of important questions 
by another conference to be called subsequently and 
at an early date. These questions were the follow- 
ing: (i) The rights and duties of neutrals; (2) the 
limitation of the armed forces on land and sea, and 
of military budgets; (3) the use of new types and 
calibres of military and naval gims; (4) the inviola- 
bility of private property at sea in times of war; (5) 
the bombardment of ports, cities, and villages by 



596 Presidential Addresses 

naval forces. In October, 1904, at the instance of 
the InterparHamentary Union, which, at a confer- 
ence held in the United States and attended by the 
lawmakers of fifteen different nations, had reiterated 
the demand for a second Conference of Nations, I 
issued invitations to all the Powers signatory to The 
Hague Convention to send delegates to such a con- 
ference and suggested that it be again held at The 
Hague. In its note of December 16, 1904, the 
United States Government communicated to the 
representatives of foreign governments its belief 
that the conference could be best arranged under the 
provisions of the present Hague treaty. 

From all the Powers acceptance was received, 
coupled in some cases with the condition that we 
should wait until the end of the war then waging 
between Russia and Japan. The Emperor of Rus- 
sia, immediately after the treaty of peace which so 
happily terminated this war, in a note presented to 
the President on September 13, through Ambassa- 
dor Rosen, took the initiative in recommending that 
the conference be now called. The United States 
Government in response expressed its cordial ac- 
quiescence and stated that it would, as a matter of 
course, take part in the new conference and en- 
deavor to further its aims. We assume that all civ- 
ilized governments will support the movement, and 
that the conference is now an assured fact. This 
Gm^ernment will do everything in its power to se- 
cure the success of the conference to the end that 



And State Papers 597 

substantial progress may be made in the cause of 
international peace, justice, and good-will. 

This renders it proper at this time to say some- 
thing as to the general attitude of this Government 
toward peace. More and more war is coming to be 
looked upon as in itself a lamentable and evil thing. 
A wanton or useless war, or a war of mere aggres- 
sion — in short, any war begun or carried on in a 
conscienceless spirit — is to be condemned as a pecul- 
iarly atrocious crime against all humanity. We can, 
however, do nothing of permanent value for peace 
unless we keep ever clearly in mind the ethical ele- 
ment which lies at the root of the problem. Our aim 
is righteousness. Peace is normally the handmaiden 
of righteousness ; but when peace and righteousness 
conflict then a great and upright people can never 
for a moment hesitate to follow the path which 
leads toward righteousness, even though that path 
also leads to war. There are persons who advocate 
peace at any price; there are others who, following 
a false analogy, think that because it is no longer 
necessary in civilized countries for individuals to 
protect their rights with a strong hand, it is there- 
fore unnecessary for nations to be ready to defend 
their rights. These persons would do irreparable 
harm to any nation that adopted their principles, 
and even as it is they seriously hamper the cause 
which they advocate by tending to render it absurd 
in the eyes of sensible and patriotic men. There can 
be no worse foe of mankind in general, and of his 
own country in particular, than tlie demagogue of 



598 Presidential Addresses 

war, the man who in mere folly or to serve his own 
selfish ends continually rails at and abuses other na- 
tions, who seeks to excite his countrymen against 
foreigners on insufficient pretexts, who excites and 
inflames a perverse and aggressive national vanity, 
and who may on occasions wantonly bring on con- 
flict between his nation and some other nation. But 
there are demagogues of peace just as there are 
demagogues of war, and in any such movement as 
this for The Hague conference it is essential not to 
be misled by one set of extremists any more than by 
the other. Whenever it is possible for a nation or 
an individual to work for real peace, assuredly it is 
failure of duty not so to strive ; but if war is neces- 
sary and righteous, then either the man or the nation 
shrinking from it forfeits all title to self-respect. 
We have scant sympathy with the sentimentalist 
who dreads oppression less than physical suffering, 
who would prefer a shameful peace to the pain and 
toil sometimes lamentably necessary in order to se- 
cure a righteous peace. As yet there is only a par- 
tial and imperfect analogy between international 
law and internal or municipal law, because there is 
no sanction of force for executing the former, while 
there is in the case of the latter. The private citi- 
zen is protected in his rights by the law, because the 
law rests in the last resort upon force exercised 
through the forms of law. A man does not have to 
defend his rights with his own hand, because he can 
call upon the police, upon the sheriff's posse, upon 
the militia, or in certain extreme cases upon the 



And State Papers 599 

Army, to defend him. But there is no such sanc- 
tion of force for international law. At present there 
could be no greater calamity than for the free peo- 
ples, the enlightened, independent, and peace-loving 
peoples, to disarm while yet leaving it open to any 
barbarism or despotism to remain armed. So long 
as the world is as unorganized as now, the armies 
and navies of those peoples who on the whole stand 
for justice ofifer not only the best, but the only pos- 
sible, security for a just peace. For instance, if the 
United States alone, or in company only with the 
other nations that on the whole tend to act justly, 
disarmed, we might sometimes avoid bloodshed, but 
we would cease to be of weight in securing the 
peace of justice — the real peace for which the most 
law-abiding and high-minded men must at times be 
willing to fight. As the world is now, only that na- 
tion is equipped for peace that knows how to fight 
and that will not shrink from fighting if ever the 
conditions become such that war is demanded in the 
name of the highest morality. 

So much it is emphatically necessary to say in 
order both that the position of the United States 
may not be misunderstood, and that a genuine effort 
to bring nearer the day of the peace of justice among 
the nations may not be hampered by a folly which, 
in striving to achieve the impossible, would render 
it hopeless to attempt the achievement of the prac- 
tical. But while recognizing most clearly all above 
set forth, it remains our clear duty to strive in every 
practicable way to bring nearer the time when the 



6oo Presidential Addresses 

sword shall not be the arbiter among nations. At 
present the practical thing to do is to try to mini- 
mize the number of cases in which it must be the 
arbiter, and to offer, at least to all civilized powers, 
some substitute for war which will be available in at 
least a considerable number of instances. Very 
much can be done through another Hague confer- 
ence in this direction, and I most earnestly urge 
that this Nation do all in its power to try to fur- 
ther the movement and to make the result of the 
decisions of The Hague conference effective. I ear- 
nestly hope that the conference may be able to de- 
vise some way to make arbitration between nations 
the customary way of settling international disputes 
in all save a few classes of cases, which should them- 
selves be as sharply defined and rigidly limited as the 
present governmental and social development of the 
world will permit. If possible, there should be a 
general arbitration treaty negotiated among all the 
nations represented at the conference. Neutral 
rights and property should be protected at sea as 
they are protected on land. There should be an 
international agreement to this purpose and a sim- 
ilar agreement defining contraband of war. 

During the last century there has been a distinct 
diminution in the number of wars between the most 
civilized nations. International relations have be- 
come closer, and the development of The Hague tri- 
bunal is not only a symptom of this growing close- 
ness of relationship, but is a means by which the 
growth can be furthered. Our aim should be from 



And State Papers 6oi 

time to time to take such steps as may be possible 
toward creating something hke an organization of 
the civilized nations, because as the world becomes 
more highly organized the need for navies and 
armies will diminish. It is not possible to secure 
anything like an immediate disarmament, because it 
would first be necessary to settle what peoples are 
on the whole a menace to the rest of mankind, and 
to provide against the disarmament of the rest being 
turned into a movement which would really chiefly 
benefit these obnoxious peoples ; but it may be pos- 
sible to exercise some check upon the tendency to 
swell indefinitely the budgets for military expendi- 
ture. Of course, such an effort could succeed only 
if it did not attempt to do too much ; and if it were 
undertaken in a spirit of sanity as far removed as 
possible from a merely hysterical pseudo-philan- 
thropy. It is worth while pointing out that since the 
end of the insurrection in the Philippines this Na- 
tion has shown its practical faith in the policy of 
disarmament by reducing its little army one-third. 
But disarmament can never be of prime importance ; 
there is more need to get rid of the causes of war 
than of the implements of war. 

I have dwelt much on the dangers to be avoided 
by steering clear of any mere foolish sentimentality 
because my wish for peace is so genuine and ear- 
nest; because I have a real and great desire that 
this second Hague conference may mark a long 
stride forward in the direction of securing the peace 
of justice throughout the world. No object is better 
II— Vol. XVI 



6o2 Presidential Addresses 

worthy the attention of enlightened statesmanship 
than the estabhshment of a surer method than now 
exists of securing justice as between nations, both 
for the protection of the Httle nations and for the 
prevention of war between the big nations. To this 
aim we should endeavor not only to avert blood- 
shed, but, above all, effectively to strengthen the 
forces of right. The Golden Rule should be, and 
as the world grows in morality it will be, the guiding 
rule of conduct among nations as among individu- 
als ; though the Golden Rule must not be construed, 
in fantastic manner, as forbidding the exercise of the 
police power. This mighty and free Republic should 
ever deal with all other states, great or small, on 
a basis of high honor, respecting their rights as 
jealously as it safeguards its own. 

One of the most effective instruments for peace 
is the Monroe Doctrine as it has been and is being 
gradually developed by this Nation and accepted 
by other nations. No other policy could have been 
as efficient in promoting peace in the Western Hemi- 
sphere and in giving to each nation thereon the 
chance to develop along its own lines. If we had 
refused to apply the Doctrine to changing conditions 
it would now be completely outworn, would not 
meet any of the needs of the present day, and indeed 
would probably by this time have sunk into com- 
plete oblivion. It is useful at home, and is meeting 
with recognition abroad because we have adapted 
our application of it to meet the growing and chang- 



And State Papers 603 

ing needs of the Hemisphere. When we announce 
a policy, such as the Monroe Doctrine, we thereby 
commit ourselves to the consequences of the policy, 
and those consequences from time to time alter. It 
is out of the question to claim a right and yet shirk 
the responsibility for its exercise. Not only we, but 
all American Republics who are benefited by the 
existence of the Doctrine, must recognize the obli- 
gations each nation is under as regards foreign peo- 
ples no less than its duty to insist upon its own 
rights. 

That our rights and interests are deeply con- 
cerned in the maintenance of the Doctrine is so 
clear as hardly to need argument. This is especially 
true in view of the construction of the Panama 
Canal. As a mere matter of self-defence we must 
exercise a close watch over the approaches to this 
canal; and this means that we must be thoroughly 
alive to our interests in the Caribbean Sea. 

There are certain essential points which must 
never be forgotten as regards the Monroe Doctrine. 
In the first place, we must as a nation make it evi- 
dent that we do not intend to treat it in any shape 
or way as an excuse for aggrandizement on our 
part at the expense of the republics to the south. 
,We must recognize the fact that in some South 
American countries there has been much suspicion 
lest we should interpret the Monroe Doctrine as 
in some way inimical to their interests, and we must 
try to convince all the other nations of this conti- 
nent once and for all that no just and orderly gov- 



6o4 Presidential Addresses 

ernment has anything to fear from us. There are 
certain repubHcs to the south of us which have al- 
ready reached such a point of stabiHty, order, and 
prosperity that they themselves, though as yet hardly 
consciously, are among the guarantors of this Doc- 
trine. These republics we now meet not only on a 
basis of entire equality, but in a spirit of frank and 
respectful friendship, which we hope is mutual. If 
all the republics to the south of us will only grow 
as those to which I allude have already grown, all 
need for us to be the especial champions of the Doc- 
trine will disappear, for no stable and growing 
American Republic wishes to see some great non- 
American military power acquire territory in its 
neighborhood. All that this country desires is that 
the other republics on this Continent shall be happy 
and prosperous ; and they can not be happy and 
prosperous unless they maintain order within their 
boundaries and behave with a just regard for their 
obligations toward outsiders. It must be under- 
stood that under no circumstances will the United 
States use the Monroe Doctrine as a cloak for ter- 
ritorial aggression. We desire peace with all the 
world, but perhaps most of all with the other peoples 
of the American Continent. There are of course 
limits to the wrongs which any self-respecting na- 
tion can endure. It is always possible that wrong 
actions toward this Nation, or toward citizens of 
this Nation, in some state unable to keep order 
among its own people, unable to secure justice from 
outsiders, and unwilling to do justice to those out- 



And State Papers 605 

siders who treat it well, may result in our having to 
take action to protect our rights ; but such action will 
not be taken with a view to territorial aggression, 
and it will be taken at all only with extreme reluc- 
tance and when it has become evident that every 
other resource has been exhausted. 

Moreover, we must make it evident that we do not 
intend to permit the Monroe Doctrine to be used by 
any nation on this Continent as a shield to protect it 
from the consequences of its own misdeeds against 
foreign nations. If a republic to the south of us 
commits a tort against a foreign nation, such as an 
outrage against a citizen of that nation, then the 
Monroe Doctrine does not force us to interfere to 
prevent punishment of the tort, save to see that the 
punishment does not assume the form of territorial 
occupation in any shape. The case is more difficult 
when it refers to a contractual obligation. Our own 
Government has always refused to enforce such con- 
tractual obligations on behalf of its citizens by an 
appeal to arms. It is much to be wished that all 
foreign governments would take the same view. 
But they do not; and in consequence we are liable 
at any time to be brought face to face with dis- 
agreeable alternatives. On the one hand, this coun- 
try would certainly decline to go to war to prevent 
a foreign government from collecting a just debt; 
on the other hand, it is very inadvisable to permit 
any foreign power to take possession, even tem- 
porarily, of the custom-houses of an American Re- 
public in order to enforce the payment of its obli- 



6o6 Presidential Addresses 

gations; for such temporary occupation might turn 
into a permanent occupation. The only escape from 
these alternatives may at any time be that we must 
ourselves undertake to bring about some arrange- 
ment by which so much as possible of a just obli- 
gation shall be paid. It is far better that this coun- 
try should put through such an arrangement, rather 
than allow any foreign country to undertake it. To 
do so ensures the defaulting republic from having to 
pay debts of an improper character under duress, 
while it also ensures honest creditors of the repub- 
lic from being passed by in the interest of dishonest 
or grasping creditors. Moreover, for the United 
States to take such a position offers the only pos- 
sible way of ensuring us against a clash with some 
foreign power. The position is, therefore, in the 
interest of peace as well as in the interest of 
justice. It is of benefit to our people: it is of 
benefit to foreign peoples ; and most of all it is 
really of benefit to the people of the country 
concerned. 

This brings me to what should be one of the fun- 
damental objects of the Monroe Doctrine. We must 
ourselves in good faith try to help upward toward 
peace and order those of our sister republics which 
need such help. Just as there has been a gradual 
growth of the ethical element in the relations of one 
individual to another, so we are, even though slowly, 
more and more coming to recognize the duty of 
bearing one another's burdens, not only as among 
individuals, but also as among nations. 



And State Papers 607 

Santo Domingo, in her turn, has now made an 
appeal to us to help her, and not only every prin- 
ciple of wisdom but every generous instinct within 
us bids us respond to the appeal. It is not of the 
slightest consequence whether we grant the aid 
needed by Santo Domingo as an incident to the wise 
development of the Monroe Doctrine, or because 
we regard the case of Santo Domingo as standing 
wholly by itself, and to be treated as such, and not 
on general principles or with any reference to the 
Monroe Doctrine. The important point is to give 
the needed aid, and the case is certainly sufficiently 
peculiar to deserve to be judged purely on its own 
merits. The conditions in Santo Domingo have for 
a number of years grown from bad to worse until 
a year ago all society was on the verge of dissolu- 
tion. Fortunately, just at this time a ruler sprang 
up in Santo Domingo, who, with his colleagues, 
saw the dangers threatening their country and ap- 
pealed to the friendship of the only great and pow- 
erful neighbor who possessed the power and, as they 
hoped, also the will to help them. There was im- 
minent danger of foreign intervention. The previ- 
ous rulers of Santo Domingo had recklessly incurred 
debts, and owing to her internal disorders she had 
ceased to be able to provide means of paying the 
debts. The patience of her foreign creditors had 
become exhausted, and at least two foreign nations 
were on the point of intervention, and were only 
prevented from intervening by the unofficial assur- 
ance of this Government that it would itself strive 



6o8 Presidential Addresses 

to help Santo Domingo in her hour of need. In 
the case of one of these nations, only the actual 
opening of negotiations to this end by our Govern- 
ment prevented the seizure of territory in Santo 
Domingo by a European power. Of the debts in- 
curred some were just, while some were not of 
a character which really renders it obligatory on, 
or proper for, Santo Domingo to pay them in full. 
But she could not pay any of them unless some 
stability was assured her Government and people. 

Accordingly the Executive Department of our 
Government negotiated a treaty under which we are 
to try to help the Dominican people to straighten 
out their finances. This treaty is pending before 
the Senate. In the meantime a temporary arrange- 
ment has been made which will last until the Sen- 
ate has had time to take action upon the treaty. 
Under this arrangement the Dominican Govern- 
ment has appointed Americans to all the important 
positions in the customs service, and they are see- 
ing to the honest collection of the revenues, turning 
over 45 per cent to the Government for running 
expenses and putting the other 55 per cent into a 
safe depositary for equitable division in case the 
treaty shall be ratified, among the various creditors, 
whether European or American. 

The custom-houses offer wellnigh the only sources 
of revenue in Santo Domingo, and the different 
revolutions usually have as their real aim the ob- 
taining possession of these custom-houses. The 
mere fact that the collectors of customs are Ameri- 



And State Papers 609 

cans, that they are performing their duties with effi- 
ciency and honesty, and that the treaty is pending 
in the Senate, gives a certain moral power to the 
Government of Santo Domingo which it has not 
had before. This has completely discouraged all 
revolutionary movement, while it has already pro- 
duced such an increase in the revenues that the 
Government is actually getting more from the 45 
per cent that the American collectors turn over to 
it than it got formerly when it took the entire rev- 
enue. It is enabling the poor harassed people of 
Santo Domingo once more to turn their attention 
to industry and to be free from the curse of mter- 
minable revolutionary disturbance. It offers to all 
bona fide creditors, American and European, the only 
really good chance to obtain that to which they are 
justly entitled, while it in return gives to Santo Do- 
mingo the only opportunity of defence agamst 
claims which it ought not to pay, for now if it meets 
the views of the Senate we shall ourselves thor- 
oughly examine all these claims, whether Ameri- 
can or foreign, and see that none that are im- 
proper are paid. There is, of course, opposition 
to the treaty from dishonest creditors, foreign and 
American, and from the professional revolutionists 
of the island itself. We have already reason to 
believe that some of the creditors who do not dare 
expose their claims to honest scrutiny are endeav- 
oring to stir up sedition in the island and opposi- 
tion to the treaty. In the meantime I have exercised 
the authority vested in me by the joint resolution 



6io Presidential Addresses 

of the Congress to prevent the introduction of arms 
into the island for revohitionary purposes. 

Under the course taken, stabihty and order and 
all the benefits of peace are at last coming to Santo 
Domingo, danger of foreign intervention has been 
suspended, and there is at last a prospect that all 
creditors will get justice, no more and no less. If 
the arrangement is terminated by the failure of the 
treaty chaos will follow; and if chaos follows., 
sooner or later this Government may be involved 
in serious difficulties with foreign governments over 
the island, or else may be forced itself to intervene 
in the island in some unpleasant fashion. Under 
the proposed treaty the independence of the island 
is scrupulously respected, the danger of violation 
of the Monroe Doctrine by the intervention of for- 
eign powers vanishes, and the interference of our 
Government is minimized, so that we shall only act 
in conjunction with the Santo Domingo authorities 
to secure the proper administration of the customs, 
and therefore to secure the payment of just debts 
and to secure the Dominican Government against 
demands for unjust debts. The proposed method 
will give the people of Santo Domingo the same 
chance to move onward and upward which we have 
already given to the people of Cuba. It will be 
doubly to our discredit as a nation if we fail to 
take advantage of this chance: for it will- be of 
damage to ourselves, and it will be of incalculable 
damage to Santo Domingo. Every consideration 
of wise policy, and, above all, every consideration 



And State Papers 6ii 

of large generosity, bids us meet the request of 
Santo Domingo as we are now trying to meet it. 

We can not consider the question of our for- 
eign policy without at the same time treating of the 
Army and Navy. We now have a very small army 

indeed, one wellnigh infinitesimal when compared 

with the army of any other large nation. Of 
course the Army we do have should be as nearly 
perfect of its kind and for its size as is possible. I 
do not believe that any army in the world has a 
better average of enlisted man or a better type of 
junior officer ; but the Army should be trained to act 
effectively in a mass. Provision should be made by 
sufficient appropriations for manoeuvres of a prac- 
tical kind so that the troops may learn how to take 
care of themselves under actual service conditions : 
every march, for instance, being made with the sol- 
dier loaded exactly as he would be in an active cam- 
paign. The generals and colonels would thereby 
have opportunity of handling regiments, brigades, 
and divisions, and the commissary and medical de- 
partments would be tested in the field. Provision 
should be made for the exercise at least of a brigade 
and by preference of a division in marching and em- 
barking at some point on our coast and disembark- 
ing at some other point and continuing its march. 
The number of posts in which the Army is kept 
in time of peace should be materially diminished 
and the posts that are left made correspondingly 
larger. No local interests should be allowed to 



6i2 Presidential Addresses 

stand in the way of assembling the greater part of 
the troops which would at need form our field 
armies in stations of such size as will permit the 
best trailing to be given to the personnel of all 
grades, including the high officers and staff officers. 
To accomplish this end we must have not company 
or regimental garrisons, but brigade and division 
garrisons. Promotion by mere seniority can never 
result in a thoroughly efficient corps of officers in 
the higher ranks unless there accompanies it a vig- 
orous weeding-out process. Such a weeding-out 
process — that is, such a process of selection — is a 
chief feature of the four years' course of the young 
officer at West Point. There is no good reason 
why it should stop immediately upon his gradua- 
tion. While at West Point he is dropped unless he 
comes up to a certain standard of excellence, and 
when he graduates he takes rank in the Army ac- 
cording to his rank of graduation. The results are 
good at West Point; and there should be in the 
Army itself something that will achieve the same 
end. After a certain age has been reached the aver- 
age officer is unfit to do good work below a certain 
grade. Provision should be made for the promotion 
of exceptionally meritorious men over the heads of 
their comrades and for the retirement of all men 
who have reached a given age without getting be- 
yond a given rank: this age of retirement of course 
changing from rank to rank. In both the Army 
and the Navy there should be some principle of 
selection, that is, of promotion for merit, and there 



And State Papers 613 

should be a resolute effort to eliminate the aged 
officers of reputable character who possess no spe- 
cial efficiency. 

There should be an increase in the coast artillery 
force, so that our coast fortifications can be in some 
degree adequately manned. There is special need 
for an increase and reorganization of the Medical 
Department of the Army. In both the Army and 
Navy there must be the same thorough training for 
duty in the staff corps as in the fighting line. Only 
by such training in advance can we be sure that in 
actual war field operations and those at sea will 
be carried on successfully. The importance of this 
was shown conclusively in the Spanish- American 
and the Russo-Japanese wars. The work of the 
medical departments in the Japanese army and navy 
is especially worthy of study. I renew my recom- 
mendation of January 9, 1905, as to the Medical 
Department of the Army and call attention to the 
equal importance of the needs of the staff corps 
of the Navy. In the Medical Department of the 
Navy the first in importance is the reorganization of 
the Hospital Corps, on the lines of the Gallmger 
Bill (S. 3984. February i, 1904), and the reap- 
portionment of the different grades of the medical 
officers to meet service requirements. It seems ad- 
visable also that medical officers of the Army and 
Navy should have similar rank and pay in their re- 
spective grades, so that their duties can be carried 
on without friction when they are brought together. 
The base hospitals of the Navy should be put m 



6i4 Presidential Addresses 

condition to meet modern requirements and hos- 
pital ships be provided. Unless we now provide 
with ample forethought for the medical needs of 
the Army and Navy, appalling suffering of a pre- 
ventable kind is sure to occur if ever the country 
goes to war. It is not reasonable to expect suc- 
cessful administration in time of war of a depart- 
ment which lacks a third of the number of officers 
necessary to perform the medical service in time of 
peace. We need men who are not merely doctors; 
they must be trained in the administration of mili- 
tary medical service. 

Our Navy must, relatively to the navies of other 
nations, always be of greater size than our Army. 
We have most wisely continued for a number of 
years to build up our Navy, and it has now reached 
a fairly high standard of efficiency. This standard 
of efficiency must not only be maintained, but in- 
creased. It does not seem to me necessary, how- 
ever, that the Navy should — at least in the im- 
mediate future — be increased beyond the present 
number of units. What is now clearly necessary is 
to substitute efficient for inefficient units as the latter 
become worn-out or as it becomes apparent that 
they are useless. Probably the result would be 
attained by adding a single battleship to our Navy 
each year, the superseded or outworn vessels being 
laid up or broken up as they are thus replaced. The 
four single-turret monitors built immediately after 
the close of the Spanish war, for instance, are ves- 
sels which would be of but little use in the event of 



And State Papers 615 

war The money spent upon them could have been 
more usefully spent in other ways. Thus it would 
have been far better never to have built a smgle 
one of these monitors and to have put the money 
into an ample supply of reser^^e guns. Most of the 
smaller cruisers and gunboats, though they serve 
a useful purpose so far as they are needed for mter- 
national police work, would not add to the strength 
of our Navy in a conflict with a serious foe. There 
is urgent need of providing a large increase m the 
number of officers, and especially in the number of 

enlisted men. . 

Recent naval history has emphasized certam les- 
sons which ought not to, but which do, need em- 
phasis. Sea-going torpedo boats or destroyers are 
indispensable, not only for making night attacks by 
surprise upon an enemy, but even in battle for fin- 
ishing already crippled ships. Under exceptional 
circumstances submarine boats would doubtless be 
of use. Fast scouts are needed. The main strength 
of the Navy, however, lies and can only lie m the 
great battleships, the heavily-armored, heavily- 
gunned vessels which decide the mastery of the seas. 
Heavy-armed cruisers also play a most useful part, 
and unarmed cruisers, if swift enough, are very 
useful as scouts. Between antagonists of approxi- 
mately equal prowess the comparative perfection of 
the instruments of war will ordinarily determine 
the fight. But it is of course true that the man 
behind the gun, the man in the engine room, and the 
man in the conning tower, considered not only in- 



6i6 Presidential Addresses 

dividnally, but especially with regard to the way 
in which they work together, are even more impor- 
tant than the weapons with which they work. The 
most formidable battleship is of course helpless 
against even a light cruiser if the men aboard it 
are unable to hit anything with their gims ; and thor- 
oughly well-handled cruisers may count seriously 
in an engagement with much superior vessels if the 
men aboard the latter are ineffective, whether from 
lack of training or from any other cause. Modern 
warships are most formidable mechanisms when 
well handled, but they are utterly useless when not 
well handled; and they can not be handled at all 
without long and careful training. This training 
can under no circumstance be given when once war 
has broken out. No fighting ship of the first class 
should ever be laid up save for necessary repairs; 
and her crew should be kept constantly exercised on 
the high seas, so that she may stand at the highest 
point of perfection. To put a new and untrained 
crew upon the most powerful battleship and send 
it out to meet a formidable enemy is not only to 
invite but to ensure disaster and disgrace. To im- 
provise crews at the outbreak of a war, so far as the 
serious fighting craft are concerned, is absolutely 
hopeless. If the officers and men are not thoroughly 
skilled in, and have not been thoroughly trained 
to, their duties, it would be far better to keep the 
ships in port during hostilities than to send them 
against a formidable opponent, for the result could 
only be that they would be either sunk or captured. 



And State Papers 617 

The marksmanship of our Navy is now on the 
whole in a gratifying condition, and there has been 
a great improvement in fleet practice. We need ad- 
ditional seamen; we need a large store of reserve 
guns; we need sufficient money for ample target 
practice, ample practice of every kind at sea. We 
should substitute for comparatively inefficient types 
— the old third-class battleship "Texas," the single- 
turreted monitors above mentioned, and indeed all 
the monitors and some of the old cruisers — efficient, 
modern, sea-going vessels. Sea-going torpedo-boat 
destroyers should be substituted for some of the 
smaller torpedo boats. During the present Con- 
gress there need be no additions to the aggregate 
number of units of the Navy. Our Navy, though 
very small relatively to the navies of other nations, 
is for the present sufficient in point of numbers for 
our needs, and while we must constantly strive to 
make its efficiency higher, there need be no addi- 
tions to the total number of ships now built and 
building, save in the way of substitution as above 
outlined. I recommend the report of the Secretary 
of the Navy to the careful consideration of the 
Congress, especially with a view to the legislation 
therein advocated. 

During the past year evidence has accumulated to 
confirm the expressions contained in my last two 
annual Messages as to the importance of revising 
by appropriate legislation our system of naturaliz- 
ing aliens. I appointed last March a commission 



6i8 Presidential Addresses 

to make a careful examination of our naturalization 
laws, and to suggest appropriate measures to avoid 
the notorious abuses resulting from the improvident 
or unlawful granting of citizenship. This com- 
mission, composed of an officer of the Department 
of State, of the Department of Justice, and of the 
Department of Commerce and Labor, has dis- 
charged the duty imposed upon it, and has sub- 
mitted a report, which will be transmitted to the 
Congress for its consideration, and, I hope, for its 
favorable action. 

The distinguishing recommendations of the Com- 
mission are : 

First. A Federal bureau of naturalization, to be 
established in the Department of Commerce and 
Labor, to supervise the administration of the natu- 
ralization laws and to receive returns of naturaliza- 
tions pending and accomplished. 

Second. Uniformity of naturalization certificates, 
fees to be charged, and procedure. 

Third. More exacting qualifications for citizen- 
ship. 

Fourth. The preliminary declaration of inten- 
tion to be abolished and no alien to be naturalized 
until at least ninety days after the filing of his 
petition. 

Fifth. Jurisdiction to naturalize aliens to be con- 
fined to United States district courts and to such 
State courts as have jurisdiction in civil actions 
in which the amount in controversy is unlimited ; 
in cities of over 100,000 inhabitants the United 



And State Papers 619 

States district courts to have exclusive jurisdic- 
tion in the naturaHzation of the ahen residents of 
such cities. 

In my last Message I asked the attention of the 
Congress to the urgent need of action to make our 
criminal law more effective; and I most earnestly 
request that you pay heed to the report of the At- 
torney-General on this subject. Centuries ago it 
was especially needful to throw every safeguard 
round the accused. The danger then was lest he 
should be wronged by the state. The danger is now 
exactly the reverse. Our laws and customs tell im- 
mensely in favor of the criminal and against the 
interests of the public he has wronged. Some anti- 
quated and outworn rules, which once safeguarded 
the threatened rights of private citizens, now merely 
work harm to the general body politic. The crimi- 
nal law of the United States stands in .urgent need 
of revision. The criminal process of any court of 
the United States should run throughout the entire 
territorial extent of our country. The delays of the 
criminal law, no less than of the civil, now amount 
to a very great evil. 

There seems to be no statute of the United States 
which provides for the punishment of a United 
States attorney or other officer of the Government 
who corruptly agrees to wrongfully do or wrong- 
fully refrain from doing any act when the consid- 
eration for such corrupt agreement is other than one 



620 Presidential Addresses 

possessing* money value. This ought to be rem- 
edied by appropriate legislation. Legislation should 
also be enacted to cover, explicitly, unequivocally, 
and beyond question, breach of trust in the shape 
pf prematurely divulging official secrets by an offi- 
cer or employee of the United States, and to provide 
a suitable penalty therefor. Such officer or em- 
ployee owes the duty to the United States to guard 
carefully and not to divulge or in any manner use, 
prematurely, information which is accessible to the 
officer or employee by reason of his official position. 
Most breaches of public trust are already covered by 
the law, and this one should be. It is impossible, 
no matter how much care is used, to prevent the 
occasional appointment to the public service of a 
man who when tempted proves unfaithful; but 
every means should be provided to detect and every 
effort made to punish the wrongdoer. So far as 
in my power lies each and every such wrongdoer 
shall be relentlessly hunted down; in no instance 
in the past has he been spared; in no instance 
in the future shall he be spared. His crime is a 
crime against every honest man in the Nation, for 
it is a crime against the whole body politic. Yet in 
dwelling on such misdeeds, it is unjust not to add 
that they are altogether exceptional, and that on the 
whole the employees of the Government render 
upright and faithful service to the people. There 
are exceptions, notably in one or two branches of 
the service; but at no time in the Nation's history 
has the public service of the Nation taken as a 



And State Papers 621 

whole stood on a higher plane than now, alike as 
regards honesty and as regards efficiency. 

Once again I call your attention to the condition 
of the public-land laws. Recent developments have 
given new urgency to the need for such changes 
as will fit these laws to actual present conditions. 
The honest disposal and right use of the remaining 
public lands is of fundamental importance. The 
iniquitous methods by which the monopolizing of 
the public lands is being brought about under the 
present laws are becoming generally known, but the 
existing laws do not furnish effective remedies. 
The recommendations of the Public Lands Com- 
mission upon this subject are wise and should be 
given effect. 

The creation of small irrigated farms under the 
Reclamation Act is a powerful offset to the ten- 
dency of certain other laws to foster or permit 
monopoly of the land. Under that act the construc- 
tion of great irrigation works has been proceeding 
rapidly and successfully, the lands reclaimed are 
eagerly taken up, and the prospect that the policy 
of national irrigation will accomplish all that was 
expected of it is bright. . The act should be extended 
to include the State of Texas. 

The Reclamation Act derives much of its value 
from the fact that it tends to secure the greatest 
possible number of homes on the land, and to create 
communities of freeholders, in part by settlement 
on public lands, in part by forcing the subdivision of 



621 Presidential Addresses 

large private holdings before they can get water 
from Government irrigation works. The law re- 
quires that no right to the use of water for land in 
private ownership shall be sold for a tract exceed- 
ing 1 60 acres to any one land owner. This pro- 
vision has excited active and powerful hostility, but 
the success of the law itself (depends on the wise and 
firm enforcement of it. We can not afford to sub- 
stitute tenants for freeholders on the public domain. 
The greater part of the remaining public lands 
can not be irrigated. They are at present and will 
probably always be of greater value for grazing 
than for any other purpose. This fact has led to 
the grazing homestead of 640 acres in Nebraska 
and to the proposed extension of it to other States. 
It is argued that a family can not be supported on 
160 acres of arid grazing land. This is obviously 
true; but neither can a family be supported on 640 
acres of much of the land to which it is proposed 
to apply the grazing homestead. To establish uni- 
versally any such arbitrary limit would be unwise 
at the present time. It would probably result on the 
one hand in enlarging the holdings of some of the 
great land owners, and on the other in needless 
suffering and failure on the part of a very consid- 
erable proportion of the bona fide settlers who give 
faith to the implied assurance of the Government 
that such an area is sufficient. The best use of the 
public grazing lands requires the careful examina- 
tion and classification of these lands in order to give 
each settler land enough to support his family and 



And State Papers 623 

no more. While this work is being done, and until 
the lands are settled, the Government should take 
control of the open range, under reasonable regula- 
tions suited to local needs, following the general 
policy already in successful operation on the forest 
reserves. It is probable that the present grazing 
value of the open public range is scarcely more than 
half what it once was or what it might easily be 
again under careful regulations. 

The forest policy of the Administration appears 
to enjoy the unbroken support of the people. The 
great users of timber are themselves forwarding the 
movement for forest preservation. All organized 
opposition to the forest reserves in the West has 
disappeared. Since the consolidation of all Gov- 
ernment forest work in the National Forest Service 
there has been a rapid and notable gain in the use- 
fulness of the forest reserves to the people and in 
public appreciation of their value. The national 
parks within or adjacent to forest reserves should 
be transferred to the charge of the Forest Service 
also. 

The National Government already does some- 
thing in connection with the construction and main- 
tenance of the great system of levees along the 
lower course of the Mississippi; in my judgment it 
should do much more. 

To the spread of our trade in peace and the de- 
fence of our flag in war a great and prosperous mer- 



624 Presidential Addresses 

chant marine is indispensable. We should have 
ships of our own and seamen of our own to convey 
our goods to neutral markets, and in case of need 
to reinforce our battle line. It can not but be a 
source of regret and uneasiness to us that the lines 
of communication with our sister republics of South 
America should be chiefly under foreign control. 
It is not a good thing that American merchants and 
manufacturers should have to send their goods and 
letters to South America via Europe if they wish 
security and despatch. Even on the Pacific, where 
our ships have held their own better than on the 
Atlantic, our merchant flag is now threatened 
through the liberal aid bestowed by other govern- 
ments on their own steam lines. I ask your earnest 
consideration of the report with which the Merchant 
Marine Commission has followed its long and care- 
ful inquiry. 

I again heartily commend to your favorable con- 
sideration the tercentennial celebration of the settle- 
ment at Jamestown, Virginia. Appreciating the de- 
sirability of this commemoration, the Congress 
passed an act, March 3, 1905, authorizing in the 
year 1907, on and near the waters of Hampton 
Roads, in the State of Virginia, an international 
naval, marine, and military celebration in honor of 
this event. By the authority vested in me by this 
act, I have made proclamation of said celebration, 
and have issued, in conformity with its instruc- 
tions, invitations to all the nations of the earth to 



And State Papers 625 

participate, by sending their naval vessels and such 
military organizations as may be practical. This 
celebration would fail of its full purpose unless it 
were enduring in its results and commensurate with 
the importance of the event to be celebrated, the 
event from which our Nation dates its birth. I ear- 
nestly hope that this celebration, already indorsed 
by the Congress of the United States, and by the 
legislatures of sixteen States since the action of 
the Congress, will receive such additional aid at 
your hands as will make it worthy of the great event 
it is intended to celebrate, and thereby enable the 
Government of the United States to make provision 
for the exhibition of its own resources, and like- 
wise enable our people who have undertaken the 
work of such a celebration to provide suitable and 
proper entertainment and instruction in the his- 
toric events of our country for all who may visit the 
exposition and to whom we have tendered our hos- 
pitality. 

It is a matter of unmixed satisfaction once more 
to call attention to the excellent work of the Pen- 
sion Bureau ; for the veterans of the Civil War have 
a greater claim upon us than any other class of our 
citizens. To them, first of all among our people, 
honor is due. 

Seven years ago my lamented predecessor, Presi- 
dent McKinley, stated that the time had come for 
the Nation to care for the graves of the Confed- 
erate dead. I recommend that the Congress take 
12— Vol. XVI 



626 Presidential Addresses 

action toward this end. The first need is to take 
charge of the graves of the Confederate dead who 
died in Northern prisons. 

The question of immigration is of vital interest 
to this country. In the year ending June 30, 1905, 
there came to the United States 1,026,000 aHen 
immigrants. In other words, in the single year 
that has just elapsed there came to this country a 
greater number of people than came here during 
the one hundred and sixty-nine years of our co- 
lonial life which intervened between the first land- 
ing at Jamestown and the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence. It is clearly shown in the report of the 
Commissioner-General of Immigration that, while 
much of this enormous immigration is undoubt- 
edly healthy and natural, a considerable proportion 
is undesirable from one reason or another; more- 
over, a considerable proportion of it, probably a 
very large proportion, including most of the unde- 
sirable class, does not come here of its own initia- 
tive, but because of the activity of the agents of the 
great transportation companies. These agents are 
distributed throughout Europe, and by the offer of 
all kinds of inducements they wheedle and cajole 
many immigrants, often against their best interest, 
to come here. The most serious obstacle we have 
to encounter in the effort to secure a proper regula- 
tion of the immigration to these shores arises from 
the determined opposition of the foreign steamship 
lines, who have no interest whatever in the matter 



And State Papers 627 

save to increase the returns on their capital by car- 
rying masses of immigrants hither in the steerage 
quarters of their ships. 

As I said in my last Message to the Congress, we 
can not have too much immigration of the right 
sort, and we should have none whatever of the 
wrong sort. Of course it is desirable that even the 
right kind of immigration should be properly dis- 
tributed in this country. We need more of such 
immigration for the South; and special effort should 
be made to secure it. Perhaps it would be possible 
to limit the number of immigrants allowed to come 
in any one year to New York and other Northern 
cities, while leaving unlimited the number allowed 
to come to the South ; always provided, however, 
that a stricter effort is made to see that only immi- 
grants of the right kind come to our country any- 
where. In actual practice it has proved so difficult 
to enforce the immigration laws where long stretches 
of frontier marked by an imaginary line alone inter- 
vene between us and our neighbors that I recom- 
mend that no immigrants be allowed to come m 
from Canada and Mexico, save natives of the two 
countries themselves. As much as possible should 
be done to distribute the immigrants upon the land 
and keep them away from the congested tenement- 
house districts of the great cities. But distribution 
is a palliative, not a cure. The prime need is to 
keep out all immigrants who will not make good 
American citizens. The laws now existing for the 
exclusion of undesirable immigrants should be 



628 Presidential Addresses 

strengthened. Adequate means should be adopted, 
enforced by sufficient penalties, to compel steamship 
companies engaged in the passenger business to ob- 
serve in good faith the law which forbids them to 
encourage or solicit immigration to the United 
States. Moreover, there should be a sharp limita- 
tion imposed upon all vessels coming to our ports as 
to the number of immigrants in ratio to the tonnage 
which each vessel can carry. This ratio should be 
high enough to ensure the coming hither of as good 
a class of aliens as possible. Provision should be 
made for the surer -punishment of those who induce 
aliens to come to this country under promise or as- 
surance of employment. It should be made possible 
to inflict a sufficiently heavy penalty on any em- 
ployer violating this law to deter him from taking 
the risk. It seems to me wise that there should be 
an international conference held to deal with this 
question of immigration, which has more than a 
merely national significance ; such a conference could 
among other things enter at length into the methods 
for securing a thorough inspection of would-be im- 
migrants at the ports from which they desire to 
embark before permitting them to embark. 

In dealing with this question it is unwise to de- 
part from the old American tradition and to dis- 
criminate for or against any man who desires to 
come here and become a citizen, save on the ground 
of that man's fitness for citizenship. It is our right 
and duty to consider his moral and social quality. 
His standard of living should be such that he will 



And State Papers 629 

not, by pressure of competition, lower the standard 
of living of our own wage-workers ; for it must ever 
be a prime object of our legislation to keep high 
their standard of living. If the man who seeks to 
come here is from the moral and social standpoint 
of such a character as to bid fair to add value to the 
community he should be heartily welcomed. We 
can not afford to pay heed to whether he is of one 
creed or another, of one nation or another. We 
can not afford to consider whether he is Catholic or 
Protestant, Jew or Gentile ; whether he is English- 
man or Irishman, Frenchman or German, Japanese, 
Italian, Scandinavian, Slav, or Magyar. What we 
should desire to find out is the individual quality of 
the individual man. In my judgment, with this end 
in view, we shall have to prepare through our own 
agents a far more rigid inspection in the countries 
from which the immigrants come. It will be a great 
deal better to have fewer immigrants, but all of the 
right kind, than a great number of immigrants, 
many of whom are necessarily of the wrong kind. 
As far as possible we wish to limit the immigration 
to this country to persons who propose to become 
citizens of this country, and we can well afford to 
insist upon adequate scrutiny of the character of 
those who are thus proposed for future citizenship. 
There should be an increase in the stringency of 
the laws to keep out insane, idiotic, epileptic, and 
pauper immigrants. But this is by no means 
enough. Not merely the anarchist, but every man 
of anarchistic tendencies, all violent and disorderly 



630 Presidential Addresses 

people, all people of bad character, the incompetent, 
the lazy, the vicious, the physically unfit, defective, 
or degenerate should be kept out. The stocks out of 
which American citizenship is to be built should be 
strong and healthy, sound in body, mind, and char- 
acter. If it be objected that the Government agents 
would not always select well, the answer is that 
they would certainly select better than do the agents 
and brokers of foreign steamship companies, the 
people who now do whatever selection is done. 

The questions arising in connection with Chinese 
immigration stand by themselves. The conditions 
in China are such that the entire Chinese coolie 
class, that is, the class of Chinese laborers, skilled 
and unskilled, legitimately come under the head of 
undesirable immigrants to this country, because of 
their numbers, the low wages for which they work, 
and their low standard of living. Not only is it to 
the interest of this country to keep them out, but the 
Chinese authorities do not desire that they should 
be admitted. At present their entrance is prohibited 
by laws amply adequate to accomplish this purpose. 
These laws have been, are being, and will be thor- 
oughly enforced. The violations of them are so 
few in number as to be infinitesimal and can be 
entirely disregarded. There is no serious proposal 
to alter the immigration law as regards the Chinese 
laborer, skilled or unskilled, and there is no excuse 
for any man feeling or affecting to feel the slightest 
alarm on the subject. 

But in the effort to carry out the policy of ex- 



And State Papers 631 

eluding Chinese laborers, Chinese coolies, grave in- 
justice and wrong have been done by this Nation 
to the people of China, and therefore ultimately to 
this Nation itself. Chinese students, business and 
professional men of all kinds— not only merchants, 
but bankers, doctors, manufacturers, professors, 
travelers, and the like— should be encouraged to 
come here and treated on precisely the same foot- 
ing that we treat students, business men, travelers, 
and the like of other nations. Our laws and treaties 
should be framed, not so as to put these people in 
the excepted classes, but to state that we will admit 
all Chinese, except Chinese of the coolie class, Chi- 
nese skilled or unskilled laborers. There would not 
be the least danger that any such provision would 
result in any relaxation of the law about laborers. 
These will, under all conditions, be kept out abso- 
lutely. But it will be more easy to see that both 
justice and courtesy are shown, as they ought to be 
shown, to other Chinese, if the law or treaty is 
framed as above suggested. Examinations should 
be completed at the port of departure from Chma. 
For this purpose there should be provided a more 
adequate consular service in China than we now 
have. The appropriations, both for the officers of 
the consuls and for the office forces in the consul- 
ates, should be increased. 

As a people we have talked much of the open door 
in China, and we expect, and quite rightly intend to 
insist, upon justice being shown us by the Chi- 
nese. But we can not expect to receive equity unless 



632 Presidential Addresses 

we do equity. We can not ask the Chinese to do 
to us what we are unwilHng to do to them. They 
would have a perfect right to exclude our laboring 
men if our laboring men threatened to come into 
their country in such numbers as to jeopardize the 
well-being of the Chinese population; and as, mu- 
tatis mutandis, these were the conditions with which 
Chinese immigration actually brought this people 
face to face, we had and have a perfect right, which 
the Chinese Government in no way contests, to act 
as we have acted in the matter of restricting coolie 
immigration. That this right exists for each coun- 
try was explicitly acknowledged in the last treaty 
between the two countries. But we must treat the 
Chinese student, traveler, and business man in a 
spirit of the broadest justice and courtesy if we 
expect similar treatment to be accorded to our own 
people of similar rank who go to China. Much 
trouble has come during the past summer from the 
organized boycott against American goods which 
has been started in China. The main factor in 
producing this boycott has been the resentment felt 
by the students and business people of China, by 
all the Chinese leaders, against the harshness of 
our law toward educated Chinamen of the profes- 
sional and business classes. 

This Government has the friendHest feelings for 
China and desires China's well-being. We cor- 
dially sympathized with the announced purpose of 
Japan to stand for the integrity of China. Such 
an attitude tends to the peace of the world. 



And State Papers 632 

The civil service law has been on the statute 
books for twenty-two years. Every President and 
a vast majority of heads of departments who have 
been in office during that period have favored a 
gradual extension of the merit system. The more 
thoroughly its principles have been understood, the 
greater has been the favor with which the law has 
been regarded by administrative officers. Any at- 
tempt to carry on the great executive departments 
of the Government without this law would in- 
evitably result in chaos. The Civil Service Com- 
missioners are doing excellent work; and their 
compensation is inadequate, considering the service 
they perform. 

The statement that the examinations are not prac- 
tical in character is based on a misapprehension of 
the practice of the Commission. The departments 
are invariably consulted as to the requirements de- 
sired and as to the character of questions that shall 
be asked. General invitations are frequently sent 
out to all heads of departments asking whether 
any changes in the scope or character of examina- 
tions are required. In other words, the departments 
prescribe the requirements and the qualifications 
desired, and the Civil Service Commission co-oper- 
ates with them in securing persons with these quali- 
fications and ensuring open and impartial competi- 
tion. In a large number of examinations (as, for 
example, those for trades positions) there are no 
educational requirements whatever, and a person 
who can neither read nor write may pass with a 



634 Presidential Addresses 

high average. Vacancies in the service are filled 
with reasonable expedition and the machinery of the 
Commission, which reaches every part of the coun- 
try, is the best agency that has yet been devised for 
finding people with the most suitable qualifications 
for the various offices to be filled. Written com- 
petitive examinations do not make an ideal method 
for filling positions, but they do represent an im- 
measurable advance upon the "spoils" method, 
under which outside politicians really made the ap- 
pointments nominally made by the executive officers, 
the appointees being chosen by the poiliticians in 
question, in the great majority of cases, for reasons 
totally unconnected with the needs of the service 
or of the public. 

Statistics gathered by the Census Bureau show 
that the tenure of office in the Government service 
does not differ materially from that enjoyed by 
employees of large business corporations. Heads 
of executive departments and members of the Com- 
mission have called my attention to the fact that the 
rule requiring a filing of charges and three days' 
notice before an employee could be separated from 
the service for inefficiency has served no good pur- 
pose whatever, because that is not a matter upon 
which a hearing of the employee found to be in- 
efficient can be of any value, and in practice the rule 
providing for such notice and hearing has merely 
resulted in keeping in a certain number of incom- 
petents, because of the reluctance of heads of de- 
partments and bureau chiefs to go through the 



And State Papers 635 

required procedure. Experience has shown that 
this rule is wholly ineffective to save any man, if a 
superior for improper reasons wishes to remove 
him, and is mischievous because it sometimes serves 
to keep in the service incompetent men not guilty 
of specific wrong-doing. Having these facts in 
view, the rule has been amended by providmg that 
where the inefficiency or incapacity comes within the 
personal knowledge of the head of a department 
the removal may be made without notice, the rea- 
sons therefor being filed and made a record of the 
department. The absolute right of removal rests 
where it always has rested, with the head of a de- 
partment; any limitation of this absolute right re- 
sults in grave injury to the public service. The 
change is merely one of procedure; it was much 
needed ; and it is producing good results. 

The civil service law is being energetically and 
impartially enforced, and in the large majority of 
cases complaints of violations of either the law or 
rules are discovered to be unfounded. In this re- 
spect, this law compares very favorably with any 
other Federal statute. The question of politics in 
the appointment and retention of the men engaged 
in merely ministerial work has been practically 
eliminated in almost the entire field of Government 
employment covered by the civil service law. The 
action of the Congress in providing the Commission 
with its own force instead of requiring it to rely 
on detailed clerks has been justified by the increased 
work done at a smaller cost to the Government. I 



636 Presidential Addresses 

urg-e upon the Congress a careful consideration of 
the recommendations contained in the annual report 
of the Commission. 

Our copyright laws urgently need revision. They 
are imperfect in definition, confused and inconsist- 
ent in expression; they omit provision for many 
articles which, under modern reproductive proc- 
esses, are entitled to protection ; they impose hard- 
ships upon the copyright proprietor which are not 
essential to the fair protection of the public; they 
are difficult for the courts to interpret and impossi- 
ble for the Copyright Office to administer with sat- 
isfaction to the public. Attempts to improve them 
by amendment have been frequent, no less than 
twelve acts for the purpose having been passed since 
the Revised Statutes. To perfect them by further 
amendments seems impracticable. A complete re- 
vision of them is essential. Such a revision, to meet 
modern conditions, has been found necessary in 
Germany, Austria, Sweden, and other foreign coun- 
tries, and bills embodying it are pending in Eng- 
land and the Australian colonies. It has been 
urged here, and proposals for a commission to un- 
dertake it have, from time to time, been pressed 
upon the Congress. The inconveniences of the 
present conditions being so great, an attempt to 
frame appropriate legislation has been made by the 
Copyright Office, which has called conferences of 
the various interests especially and practically con- 
cerned with the operation of the copyright laws. It 



And State Papers 637 

has secured from them suggestions as to the changes 
necessary; it has added from its own experience and 
investigations, and it has drafted a bill which em- 
bodies such of these changes and additions as, after 
full discussion and expert criticism, appeared to be 
sound and safe. In form this bill would replace the 
existing insufficient and inconsistent laws by one 
general copyright statute. It will be presented to 
the Congress at the coming session. It deserves 
prompt consideration. 

I recommend that a law be enacted to regulate 
interstate commerce in misbranded and adulterated 
foods, drinks, and drugs. Such law would protect 
legitimate manufacture and commerce, and would 
tend to secure the health and welfare of the con- 
suming public. Traffic in foodstuffs which have 
been debased or adulterated so as to injure health 
or to deceive purchasers should be forbidden. 

The law forbidding the emission of dense black 
or gray smoke in the City of Washington has been 
sustained by the courts. Something has been ac- 
complished under it, but much remains to be done 
if we would preserve the Capital City from deface- 
ment by the smoke nuisance. Repeated prosecu- 
tions under the law have not had the desired effect. 
I recommend that it be made more stringent by m- 
creasing both the minimum and maximum fine; by 
providing for imprisonment in cases of repeated vio- 
lation; and by aft^ording the remedy of injunction 



638 Presidential Addresses 

against the continuation of the operation of plants 
which are persistent offenders. I recommend, also, 
an increase in the number of inspectors, whose duty 
it shall be to detect violations of the act. 

I call your attention to the generous act of the 
State of California in conferring upon the United 
States Government the ownership of the Yosemite 
Valley and the Mariposa Big Tree Grove. There 
should be no delay in accepting the gift, and ap- 
propriations should be made for the including 
thereof in the Yosemite National Park, and for the 
care and policing of the park. California has acted 
most wisely as well as with great magnanimity in 
the matter. There are certain mighty natural feat- 
ures of our land which should be preserved in 
perpetuity for our children and our children's chil- 
dren. . In my judgment the Grand Canyon of the 
Colorado should be made into a national park. It 
is greatly to be wished that the State of New York 
should copy as regards Niagara what the State of 
California has done as regards the Yosemite. 
Nothing should be allowed to interfere with the 
preservation of Niagara Falls in all their beauty and 
majesty. If the State can not see to this, then it is 
earnestly to be wished that she should be willing 
to turn it over to the National Government, which 
should in such case (if possible, in conjunction 
with the Canadian Government) assume the burden 
and responsibility of preserving unharmed Niagara 
Falls; just as it should gladly assume a similar 



And State Papers 639 

burden and responsibility for the Yosemite National 
Park, and as it has already assumed them for the 
Yellowstone National Park. Adequate provision 
should be made by the Congress for the proper care 
and supervision of all these national parks. The 
boundaries of the Yellowstone National Park 
should be extended to the south and east to take 
in such portions of the abutting forest reservation 
as will enable the Government to protect the elk 
on their winter range. 

The most characteristic animal of the Western 
plains was the great shagg)'-maned wild ox the 
bison, commonly known as buffalo. Small frag- 
ments of herds exist in a domesticated state here 
and there, a few of them in the Yellowstone Park. 
Such a herd as that on the Flathead Reservation 
should not be allowed to go out of existence. Either 
on some resen-ation or on some forest reserve_ like 
the Wichita reserve and game refuge provision 
should be made for the preservation of such a herd. 
I believe that the scheme would be of economic 
advantage, for the robe of the buffalo is of high 
market value, and the same is true of the robe of 
the crossbred animals. 

I call your especial attention to the desirability 
of giving to the members of the Life-Saving Ser- 
vice pensions such as are given to foremen and po- 
licemen in all our great cities. The men in the 
Life-Saving Service continually and in the most 
matter-of-fact way do deeds such as make Amen- 



640 Presidential Addresses 

cans proud of their country. They have no poHti- 
cal influence; and they Hve in such remote places 
that the really heroic services they continually ren- 
der receive the scantiest recognition from the public. 
It is unjust for a great nation like this to permit 
these men to become totally disabled or to meet 
death in the performance of their hazardous duty 
and yet to give them no sort of reward. If one of 
them serves thirty years of his life in such a posi- 
tion he should surely be entitled to retire on half 
pay, as a fireman or policeman does, and if he be- 
comes totally incapacitated through accident or sick- 
ness or loses his health in the discharge of his duty, 
he or his family should receive a pension just as 
any soldier should. I call your attention with espe- 
cial earnestness to this matter because it appeals not 
only to our judgment but to our sympathy; for the 
people on whose behalf I ask it are comparatively 
few in" number, render incalculable service of a par- 
ticularly dangerous kind, and have no one to speak 
for them. 
» 
During the year just past, the phase of the Indian 
question which has been most sharply brought to 
public attention is the larger legal significance of the 
Indian's induction into citizenship. This has made 
itself manifest not only in a great access of litiga- 
tion in which the citizen Indian figures as a party 
defendant and in a more widespread disposition to 
levy local taxation upon his personalty, but in a de- 
cision of the United States Supreme Court which 



And State Papers 641 

struck away the main prop on which has hitherto 
rested the Government's benevolent effort to pro- 
tect him against the evils of intemperance. The 
court holds, in effect, that when an Indian be- 
comes, by virtue of an allotment of land to him, a 
citizen of the State in which his land is situated, 
he passes from under Federal control in such mat- 
ters as this, and the acts of the Congress prohibiting 
the sale or gift to him of intoxicants become sub- 
stantially inoperative. It is gratifying to note that 
the States and municipalities of the West which 
have most at stake in the welfare of the Indians are 
taking up this subject and are trying to supply, in a 
measure at least, the abdication of its trusteeship 
forced upon the Federal Government. Neverthe- 
less, I would urgently press upon the attention of 
the Congress the question whether some amend- 
ment of the internal-revenue laws might not be of 
aid in prosecuting those malefactors, known in the 
Indian country as ''bootleggers," who are engaged 
at once in defrauding the United States Treasury 
of taxes and, what is far more important, in de- 
bauching the Indians by carrying liquors iUicitly 
into territory still completely under Federal juris- 
diction. 

Among the crying present needs of the Indians 
are more^ day schools situated in the midst of their 
settlements, more effective instruction in the in- 
dustries pursued on their own farms, and a more 
liberal extension of the field-matron service, which 
means the education of the Indian women in the 



642 Presidential Addresses 

arts of home making. Until the mothers are well 
started in the right direction we can not reasonably 
expect much from the children who are soon to 
form an integral part of our American citizenship. 
Moreover, the excuse continually advanced by male 
adult Indians for refusing ofifers of remunerative 
employment at a distance from their homes is that 
they dare not leave their famihes too long out of 
their sight. One effectual remedy for this state of 
things is to employ the minds and strengthen the 
moral fibre of the Indian women — the end to which 
the work of the field matron is especially directed. 
I trust that the Congress will make its appropria- 
tions for Indian day schools and field matrons as 
generous as may consist with the other pressing 
demands upon its providence. 

During the last year the Philippine Islands have 
been slowly recovering from the series of disasters 
which, since American occupation, have greatly re- 
duced the amount of agricultural products below 
what was produced in Spanish times. The war, the 
rinderpest, the locusts, the drought, and the cholera 
have been united as causes to prevent a return of the 
prosperity much needed in the islands. The most 
serious is the destruction by the rinderpest of more 
than 75 per cent of the draught cattle, because it 
will take several years of breeding to restore the 
necessary number of these indispensable aids to 
agriculture. The Commission attempted to supply 
by purchase from adjoining countries the needed 



And State Papers 643 

cattle, but the experiments made were unsuccessful. 
Most of the cattle imported were unable to with- 
stand the change of climate and the rigors of the 
voyage, and died from other diseases than rinder- 
pest. 

The income of the Philippine Government has 
necessarily been reduced by reason of the business 
and agricultural depression in the islands, and the 
government has been obliged to exercise great econ- 
omy, to cut down its expenses, to reduce salaries, 
and in every way to avoid a deficit. It has adopted 
an internal-revenue law, imposing taxes on cigars, 
cigarettes, and distilled liquors, and abolishing the 
old Spanish industrial taxes. The law has not 
operated as smoothly as was hoped, and although 
its principle is undoubtedly correct, it may need 
amendments for the purpose of reconciling the 
people to its provisions. The income derived from 
it has partly made up for the reduction in customs 
revenue. 

There has been a marked increase in the number 
of Filipinos employed in the civil service, and a cor- 
responding decrease in the number of Americans. 
The government in every one of its departments 
has been rendered more efficient by elimination of 
undesirable material and the promotion of deserving 
public servants. 

Improvements of harbors, roads, and bridges con- 
tinue, although the cutting down of the revenue for- 
bids the expenditure of any great amount from 
current income for these purposes. Steps are 



644 Presidential Addresses 

being taken, by advertisement for competitive bids, 
to secure the construction and maintenance of t,coo 
miles of railway by private corporations under the 
recent enabling- legislation of the Congress. The 
transfer of the friar lands, in accordance with the 
contract made some two years ago, has been com- 
pletely effected, and the purchase money paid. Pro- 
vision has just been made by statute for the speedy 
settlement in a special proceeding in the Supreme 
Court of controversies over the possession and title 
of church buildings and rectories arising between the 
Roman Catholic Church and schismatics claiming 
under ancient municipalities. Negotiations and 
hearings for the settlement of the amount due 
to the Roman Catholic Church for rent and occu- 
pation of churches and rectories by the Army 
of the United States are in progress, and it 
is hoped a satisfactory conclusion may be sub- 
mitted to the Congress before the end of the 
session. 

Tranquillity has existed during the past year 
throughout the Archipelago, except in the province 
of Cavite, the province of Batangas, and the prov- 
ince of Samar, and in the island of Jolo among the 
Moros. The Jolo disturbance was put an end to by 
several sharp and short engagements, and now 
peace prevails in the Moro province. Cavite, the 
mother of ladrones in the Spanish times, is so per- 
meated with the traditional sympathy of the people 
for ladronism as to make it difficult to stamp out 
the disease. Batangas was only disturbed by 



And State Papers 645 

reason of the fugitive ladrones from Cavite. Samar 
was thrown into disturbance by the uneducated and 
partly savage peoples living in the mountains, who, 
having been given by the municipal code more 
power than they were able to exercise discreetly, 
elected municipal officers who abused their trusts, 
compelled the people raising hemp to sell it at a 
much less price than it was worth, and by their 
abuses drove their people into resistance to con- 
stituted authority. Cavite and Samar are instances 
of reposing too much confidence in the self-govern- 
ing power of a people. The disturbances have all 
now been suppressed, and it is hoped that with 
these lessons local governments can be formed 
which will secure quiet and peace to the deserving 
inhabitants. The incident is another proof of the 
fact that if there has been any error as regards giv- 
ing self-government in the Philippines it has been 
in the direction of giving it too quickly, not too 
slowly. A year from next April the first legislative 
assembly for the islands will be held. On the sanity 
and self-restraint of this body much will depend so 
far as the future self-government of the islands is 
concerned. 

The most encouraging feature of the whole situ- 
ation has been the very great interest taken by the 
common people in education and the great increase 
in the number of enrolled students in the public 
schools. The increase was from 300,000 to half a 
million pupils. The average attendance is about 
70 per cent. The only limit upon the number of 



646 Presidential Addresses 

pupils seems to be the capacity of the government 
to furnish teachers and schoolhouses. 

The agricultural conditions of the islands enforce 
more strongly than ever the argument in favor of 
reducing the tariff on the products of the Philip- 
pine Islands entering the United States. I ear- 
nestly recommend that the tariff now imposed by 
the Dingley bill upon the products of the Philippine 
Islands be entirely removed, except the tariff on 
sugar and tobacco, and that that tariff be reduced 
to 25 per cent of the present rates under the Dingley 
Act; that after July i, 1909, the tariff upon tobacco 
and sugar produced in the Philippine Islands be 
entirely removed, and that free trade between the 
islands and the United States in the products of 
each country then be provided for by law. 

A statute in force, enacted April 15, 1904, sus- 
pends the operation of the coastwise laws of the 
United States upon the trade between the Philip- 
pine Islands and the United States until July i, 
1906. I earnestly recommend that this suspension 
be postponed until July i, 1909. I think it of doubt- 
ful utility to apply the coastwise laws to the trade 
between the United States and the Philippines under 
any circumstances, because I am convinced that it 
will do no good whatever to American bottoms, 
and will only interfere and be an obstacle to the 
trade between the Philippines and the United States ; 
but if the coastwise law must be thus applied, cer- 
tainly it ought not to have effect until free trade is 
enjoyed between the people of the United States 



And State Papers 647 

and the people of the Phihppine Islands in their 
respective products. 

I do not anticipate that free trade between the 
islands and the United States will produce a revo- 
lution in the sugar and tobacco production of the 
Philippine Islands. So primitive are the methods 
of agriculture in the Philippine Islands, so slow is 
capital in going to the islands, so many difficulties 
surround a large agricultural enterprise in the isl- 
ands, that it will be many, many years before the 
products of those islands will have any effect what- 
ever upon the markets of the United States. The 
problem of labor is also a formidable one with the 
sugar and tobacco producers in the islands. The 
best friends of the Filipino people and the people 
themselves are utterly opposed to the admission of 
Chinese coolie labor. Hence the only solution is 
the training of Filipino labor, and this will take 
a long time. The enactment of a law by the Con- 
gress of the United States making provision for 
free trade between the islands and the United States, 
however, will be of great importance from a po- 
litical and sentimental standpoint; and while its ac- 
tual benefit has doubtless been exaggerated by the 
people of the islands, they will accept this measure 
of justice as an indication that the people of the 
United States are anxious to aid the people of the 
Philippine Islands in every way, and especially in 
the agricultural development of their Archipelago. 
It will aid the Filipinos without injuring interests 
in America, 



648 Presidential Addresses 

In my judgment immediate steps should be taken 
for the fortification of Hawaii. This is the most 
important point in the Pacific to fortify in order to 
conserve the interests of this country. It would be 
hard to overstate the importance of this need. 
Hawaii is too heavily taxed. Laws should be en- 
acted setting aside for a period of, say, twenty 
years 75 per cent of the internal revenue and cus- 
toms receipts from Hawaii as a special fund to be 
expended in the islands for educational and public 
buildings, and for harbor improvements and mili- 
tary and naval defence It can not be too often 
repeated that our aim . ^st be to develop the Ter- 
ritory of Hawaii on trc \itional American lines. 
That Territory has serious\commercial and indus- 
trial problems to reckon with; but no measure of 
relief can be considered which looks to legislation 
admitting Chinese and restricting them by statute to 
field labor and domestic service. The status of ser- 
vility can never again be tolerated on American 
soil. We can not concede that the proper solution 
of its problems is special legislation admitting to 
Hawaii a class of laborers denied admission to the 
other States and Territories, There are obstacles, 
and great obstacles, in the way of building up a 
representative American community in the Ha- 
waiian Islands; but it is not in the American char- 
acter to give up in the face of difficulty. Many an 
American Commonwealth has been built up against 
odds equal to those that now confront Hawaii. 

No merely half-hearted effort to meet its prob- 



And State Papers 649 

lems as other American communities have met 
theirs can be accepted as final. Hawaii shall never 
become a Territory in which a governing class of 
rich planters exists by means of coolie labor. Even 
if the rate of growth of the Territory is thereby ren- 
dered slower, the growth must only take place by 
the admission of immigrants fit in the end to as- 
sume the duties and burdens of full American citi- 
zenship. Our aim must be to develop the Territory 
on the same basis of stable citizenship as exists on 
this continent. 

I earnestly advocate the adoption of legislation 
which will explicitly confer American citizenship 
on all citizens of Porto Rico. There is, in my judg- 
ment, no excuse for failure to do this. The harbor 
of San Juan should be dredged and improved. The 
expenses of the Federal court of Porto Rico should 
be met from the Federal Treasury, and not from the 
Porto Rican treasury. The elections m Porto 
Rico should take place every four years, and the 
legislature should meet in session every two years. 
The present form of government in Porto Rico, 
which provides for the appointment by the Presi- 
dent of the members of the executive council or 
upper house of the legislature, has proved satisfac- 
tory and has inspired confidence in property owners 
and investors. I do not deem it advisable at the 
present time to change this form in any material 
feature. The problems and needs of the is and are 
industrial and commercial rather than political. 
T3-V0L. XVI 



650 Presidential Addresses 

I wish also to call the attention of the Congress 
to one question which affects our insular posses- 
sions, generally; namely, the need of an increased 
liberality in the treatment of the whole franchise 
question in these islands. In the proper desire to 
prevent the islands being exploited by speculators 
and to have them develop in the interest of their 
own people an error has been made in refusing to 
grant sufficiently liberal terms to induce the invest- 
ment of American capital in the Philippines and in 
Porto Rico. Elsewhere in this Message I have 
spoken strongly against the jealousy of mere 
wealth, and especially of corporate wealth as such. 
But it is particularly regrettable to allow any such 
jealousy to be developed when we are dealing either 
with our insular or with foreign affairs. The big 
corporation has achieved its present position in the 
business world simply because it is the most effec- 
tive instrument in business competition. In for- 
eign affairs we can not afford to put our people at 
a disadvantage with their competitors by in any 
way discriminating against the efficiency of our 
business organizations. In the same way we can 
not afford to allow our insular possessions to lag 
behind in industrial development from any twisted 
jealousy of business success. It is, of course, a mere 
truism to say that the business interests of the isl- 
ands will only be developed if it becomes the finan- 
cial interest of somebody to develop them. Yet this 
development is one of the things most earnestly to 
be wished for in the interest of the islands them- 



And State Papers 651 

selves. We have been paying all possible heed to 
the political and educational interests of the isl- 
ands, but, important though these objects are, it is 
not less important that v^e should favor their indus- 
trial development. The Government can in certain 
ways help this directly, as by building good roads; 
but the fundamental and vital help must be given 
through the development of the industries of the 
islands, and a most efficient means to this end is 
to encourage big American corporations to start 
industries in them, and this means to make it advan- 
tageous for them to do so. To limit the ownership 
of mining claims as has been done in the Philip- 
pines is absurd. In both the Philippines and Porto 
Rico the limit of holdings of land should be largely 
raised. 

I earnestly ask that Alaska be given an elective 
Delegate. Some person should be chosen who can 
speak with authority of the needs of the Territory. 
The Government should aid in the construction of 
a railroad from the Gulf of Alaska to the Yukon 
River, in American territory. In my last two Mes- 
sages I advocated certain additional action on be- 
half of Alaska. I shall not now repeat those rec- 
ommendations, but I shall lay all my stress upon 
the one recommendation of giving to Alaska some 
one authorized to speak for it. I should prefer that 
the Delegate was made elective, but if this is not 
deemed wise, then make him appointive. At any 
rate, give Alaska some person whose business it 



6^2 Presidential Addresses 

shall be to speak with authority on her behalf to 
the Congress. The natural resources of Alaska 
are great. Some of the chief needs of the pecul- 
iarly energetic, self-reliant, and typically American 
white population of Alaska were set forth in my 
last Message. I also earnestly ask your attention 
to the needs of the Alaskan Indians. All Indians 
who are competent should receive the full rights 
of American citizenship. It is, for instance, a gross 
and indefensible wrong to deny to such hard- 
working, decent-living Indians as the Metlakahtlas 
the right to obtain licenses as captains, pilots, and 
engineers, the right to enter mining claims, and to 
profit by the homestead law. These particular In- 
dians are civilized, and are competent and entitled 
to be put on the same basis with the white men 
round about them. 

I recommend that Indian Territory and Okla- 
homa be admitted as one State and that New Mex- 
ico and Arizona be admitted as one State. There 
is no obligation upon us to treat territorial subdi- 
visions, which are matters of convenience only, as 
binding us on the question of admission to State- 
hood. Nothing has taken up more time in the 
Congress during the past few years than the ques- 
tion as to the Statehood to be granted to the four 
Territories above mentioned, and after careful con- 
sideration of all that has been developed in the dis- 
cussions of the question I recommend that they be 
immediately admitted as two States. There is no 



And State Papers 653 

justification for further delay; and the advisabiHty 
of making the four Territories into two States has 
been clearly established. 

In some of the Territories the legislative assem- 
blies issue licenses for gambling. The Congress 
should by law forbid this practice, the harmful re- 
sults of which are obvious at a glance. 

The treaty between the United States and the 
Republic of Panama, under which the construction 
of the Panama Canal was made possible, went into 
effect with its ratification by the United States Sen- 
ate on February 23. 1904. The canal properties 
of the French Canal Company were transferred to 
the United States on April 23, 1904, on payment 
of $40,000,000 to that company. On April i, 
IQOS the Commission was reorganized, and it now 
consists of Theodore P. Shonts, chairman, Charles 
E. Magoon, Benjamin M. Harrod, Rear-Admiral 
Mordecai T. Endicott, Brig.-Gen. Peter C. Hams, 
and Col. Oswald H. Ernst. John F. Stevens was 
appointed chief engineer on July i last. Active 
work in canal construction, mainly preparatory has 
been in progress for less than a year and a half. 
During that period two points about the canal have 
ceased to be open to debate. First, the question of 
route; the canal will be built on the Isthmus of 
Panama. Second, the question of feasibility; there 
are no phvsical obstacles on this route that Ameri- 
can engineering skill will not be able to overcome 
without serious difficulty, or that will prevent the 



654 Presidential Addresses 

completion of the canal within a reasonable time 
and at a reasonable cost. This is virtually the unani- 
mous testimony of the engineers who have investi- 
gated the matter for the Government. 

The point which remains unsettled is the question 
of type, whether the canal shall be one of several 
locks above sea level, or at sea level with a single 
tide lock. On this point I hope to lay before the 
Congress at an early day the findings of the Ad- 
visory Board of American and European Engineers, 
that at my invitation have been considering the 
subject, together with the report of the Commission 
thereon; and such comments thereon or recommen- 
dations in reference thereto as may seem necessary. 

The American people is pledged to the speediest 
possible construction of a canal adequate to meet 
the demands which the commerce of the world will 
make upon it, and I appeal most earnestly to the 
Congress to aid in the fulfilment of the pledge. 
Gratifying progress has been made during the past 
year and especially during the past four months. 
The greater part of the necessary preliminary work 
has been done. Actual work of excavation could 
be begun only on a limited scale till the Canal Zone 
was made a healthful place to live in and to work in. 
The Isthmus had to be sanitated first. This task 
has been so thoroughly accomplished that yellow 
fever has been virtually extirpated from the Isth- 
mus and general health conditions vastly improved. 
The same methods which converted the island of 
Cuba from a pest hole which menaced the health 



And State Papers 655 

of the world into a healthful place of abode have 
been applied on the Isthmus with satisfactory re- 
sults. There is no reason to doubt that when the 
plans for water supply, paving, and sewerage of 
Panama and Colon and the large labor camps have 
been fully carried out, the Isthmus will be, for the 
Tropics, an unusually healthy place of abode. The 
work is so far advanced now that the health of all 
those employed in canal work is as well guarded as 
it is on similar work in this country and elsewhere. 
In addition to sanitating the Isthmus, satisfactory 
quarters are being provided for employees and an 
adequate system of supplying them with wholesome 
food at reasonable prices has been created. Hospi- 
tals have been established and equipped that are 
without superiors of their kind anywhere. The 
country has thus been made fit to work in, and pro- 
vision has been made for the welfare and comfort 
of those who are to do the work. During the past 
year a large portion of the plant with which the 
work is to be done has been ordered. It is con- 
fidently believed that by the middle of the approach- 
ing year a sufficient proportion of this plant will 
have been installed to enable us to resume the work 
" of excavation on a large scale. 

What is needed now and without delay is an ap- 
propriation by the Congress to meet the current and 
accruing expenses of the Commission. The first 
appropriation of $10,000,000. out of the $135,000,- 
000 authorized by the Spooner Act, was made three 
years ago. It is nearly exhausted. There is barely 



6s6 Presidential Addresses 

enough of it remaining to carry the Commission to 
the end of the year. Unless the Congress shall ap- 
propriate before that time all work must cease. To 
arrest progress for any length of time now, when 
matters are advancing so satisfactorily, would be 
deplorable. There will be no money with which to 
meet pay-roll obligations and none with which to 
meet bills coming due for materials and supplies; 
and there will be demoralization of the forces, here 
and on the Isthmus, now working so harmoniously 
and effectively, if there is delay in granting an 
emergency appropriation. Estimates of the amount 
necessary will be found in the accompanying reports 
of the Secretary of War and the Commission. 

I recommend more adequate provision than has 
been made heretofore for the work of the Depart- 
ment of. State. Within a few years there has been 
a very great increase in the amount and importance 
of the work to be done by that Department, both 
in Washington and abroad. This has been caused 
by the great increase of our foreign trade, the in- 
crease of wealth among our people, which enables 
them to travel more generally than heretofore, the 
increase of American capital which is seeking in- 
vestment in foreign countries, and the growth of 
our power and weight in the councils of the civil- 
ized world. There has been no corresponding in- 
crease of facilities for doing the work afforded to 
the Department having charge of our foreign re- 
lations. 



And State Papers 657 

Neither at home nor abroad is there a sufficient 
working force to do the business properly. In many 
respects the system which was adequate to the work 
of twenty-five, or even ten, years ago, is inadequate 
now, and should be changed. Our consular force 
should be classified, and appointments should be 
made to the several classes, with authority to the 
Executive to assign the members of each class to 
duty at such posts as the interests of the service 
require, instead of the appointments being made 
as at present to specified posts. There should be 
an adequate inspection service, so that the Depart- 
ment may be able to inform itself how the business 
of each consulate is being done, instead of depend- 
ing upon casual private information or rumor. The 
fee system should be entirely abolished, and a due 
equivalent made in salary to the officers who now 
eke out their subsistence by means of fees. Suffi- 
cient provision should be made for a clerical force 
in every consulate, composed entirely of Ameri- 
cans, instead of the insufficient provision now made, 
which compels the employment of great numbers of 
citizens of foreign countries whose services can be 
obtained for less money. At a large part of our 
consulates the office quarters and the clerical force 
are inadequate to the performance of the onerous 
duties imposed by the recent provisions of our im- 
migration laws as well as by our increasing trade. 
In many parts of the world the lack of suitable 
quarters for our embassies, legations, and consul- 
ates detracts from the respect in which our officers 



658 Presidential Addresses 

ought to be held, and seriously impairs their weight 
and influence. 

Suitable provision should be made for the expense 
of keeping our diplomatic officers more fully in- 
formed of what is being done from day to day in 
the progress of our diplomatic affairs with other 
countries. The lack of such information, caused 
by insufficient appropriations available for cable 
tolls and for clerical and messenger service, fre- 
quently puts our officers at a great disadvantage 
and detracts from their usefulness. The salary list 
should be readjusted. It does not now correspond 
either to the importance of the service to be ren- 
dered and the degrees of ability and experience 
required in the different positions, or to the dif- 
ferences in the cost of living. In many cases the 
salaries are quite inadequate. 

Theodore Roosevelt. 

The White House, 

December 5, 1905. 



And State Papers 659 

"THE CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT" 

The "twilight of the poets" has been especially 
gray in America; for poetry is of course one of 
those arts in which the smallest amount of work 
of the very highest class is worth an infinity of good 
work that is not of the highest class. The touch of 
the purple makes a poem out of verse, and ^f it is 
not there, there is no substitute. It is hard to ac- 
count for the failure to produce in America of recent 
years a poet who in the world of letters will rank 
as high as certain American sculptors and painters 
rank in the world of art. 

But true poems do appear from time to time, by 
Madison Cawein, by Clinton Scollard, by Maurice 
Egan and others; such are the poems in Bliss Car- 
man's '^Ballads of Lost Haven" ; and such are the 
poems in Edward Arlington Robinson's "The Chil- 
dren of the Night." 

It is rather curious that Mr. Robinson's volume 
should not have attracted more attention. There is 
an undoubted touch of genius in the poems collected 
in this volume, and a curious simplicity and good 
faith, all of which qualities differentiate them 
sharply from ordinary collections of the kind. There 
is in them just a little of the light that never was 
on land or sea, and in such light the objects de- 
scribed often have nebulous outlines; but it is not 
always necessary in order to enjoy a poem that one 
should be able to translate it into terms of mathe- 



66o Presidential Addresses 

matical accuracy. Indeed, those who admire the 
coloring of Turner, those who like to read how — 
and to wonder why — Childe Roland to the Dark 
Tower came, do not wish always to have the ideas 
presented to them w^ith cold, hard, definite outlines; 
and to a man with the poetic temperament it is in- 
evitable that life should often appear clothed with a 
certain sad mysticism. In the present volume I am 
not sure that I understand "Luke Havergal"; but I 
am entirely sure that I like it. 

Whoever has lived in country America knows 
the gray, empty houses from which life has gone. 
It is of one of these that "The House on the Hill" 
was written. 

"They are all gone away, 

The House is shut and still, 
There is nothing more to say. 

"Through broken walls and gray 
The winds blow bleak and shrill: 
They are all gone away. 

"Nor is there one to-day 

To speak them good or ill : 
There is nothing more to say. 

"Why is it then we stray 
Around that sunken sill? 
They are all gone away, 

"And our poor fancy-play 
For them is wasted skill : 
There is nothing more to say. 

"There is ruin and decay 
In the House on the Hill : 
They are all gone away, 
There is nothing more to say." 



And State Papers 661 

The next poem, "Richard Cory," illustrates a 
very ancient but very profound philosophy of life 
with a curiously local touch which points its keen 
insight. Those who feel poetry in their marrow 
and fibre are the spiritual heirs of the ages ; and so 
it is natural that this man from Maine, many of 
whose poems could have been written only by one 
to whom the most real of lives is the life of the 
American small town, should write his ''Ballade of 
Broken Flutes"— where "A lonely surge of ancient 
spray told of an unforgetful sea";— should write 
the poem beginning 

"Since Persia fell at Marathon, 

The yellow years have gathered fast : 
Long centuries have come and gone" ; 

and the ver^^ original sonnet on Amaryllis, the last 
three lines of which are: 

"But though the trumpets of the world were glad, 
It made me lonely and it made me sad 
To think that Amaryllis had grown old." 

Some of his images stay fixed in one's mind, as in 
"The Pity of the Leaves," the lines running: 

"The brown, thin leaves that on the stones outside 
Skipped with a freezing whisper." 

Sometimes he writes, as in "The Tavern," of what 
most of us feel we have seen ; and then again of what 
we have seen only with the soul's eyes. 

I shall close by quoting entire his poem on "The 
Wilderness," which could have been written only by 



662 Presidential Addresses 

a man into whose heart there had entered deep the 
very spirit of the vast and melancholy Northern 
forests : 

"Come away ! come away ! there's a frost along the 

marshes, 
And a frozen wind that skims the shoal where it shakes 

the dead black water; 
There's a moan across the lowland and a wailing: through 

the woodland 
Of a dirge that sings to send us back to the arms of those 

that love us. 
There is nothing left but ashes now where the crimson 

chills of autumn 
Put off the summer's languor with a touch that made us 

glad 
For the glory that is gone from us, with a flight we can 

not follow, 
To the slopes of other valleys and the sounds of other 

shores. 

"Come away ! come away ! you can hear them calling, 
calling. 
Calling to us to come to them, and roam no more. 
Over there beyond the ridges and the land that lies be- 
tween us, 
There's an old song calling us to come ! 

"Come away ! come away ! for the scenes we leave be- 
hind us 
Are barren for the lights of home and a flame that's 

young forever; 
And the lonely trees around us creak the warning of the 

night-wind, 
That love and all the dreams of love are away beyond the 

mountains. 
The songs that call for us to-night, they have called for 

men before us, 
And the winds that blow the message, they have blown ten 

thousand years ; 
But this will end our wander-time, for we know the joy 

that waits us 
In the strangeness of home-coming, and a faithful 

woman's eyes. 



And State Papers 663 

"Come away ! come away ! there is nothing now to cheer 

us — 
Nothing now to comfort us, but love's road home : — 
Over there beyond the darkness there's a window gleams 

to greet us, 
And a warm heart waits for us within. 

"Come away ! come away ! — or the roving-fiend will hold 

us. 
And make us all to dwell with him to the end of human 

faring : 
There are no men yet can leave him when his hands are 

clutched upon them, 
There are none will own his enmity, there are none will 

call him brother. 
So we'll be up and on the way, and the less we brag the 

better 
For the freedom that God gave us and the dread we do 

not know : — 
The frost that skips the willow-leaf will again be back to 

blight it. 
And the doom we can not fly from is the doom we do 

not see. 

"Come away ! come away ! there are dead men all around 
us — 
Frozen men that mock us with a wild, hard laugh 
That shrieks and sinks and whimpers in the shrill No- 
vember rushes. 
And the long full wind on the lake." 

Mr. Robinson has written in this Httle volume not 
verse but poetry. Whether he has the power of sus- 
tained flight remains to be seen. 



INDEX 



Abstinence, 436 
Agassiz. Professor, 408. 409 
Agriculture, Department of, 83. »4. 
141-151, 197. >99 
in Philippines, 646, 647 
Alabama, 5>3, 5i8, 5-''. 527. S3'J. 

Conference Female College, ad- 
dress, 518-5-' I 
"Alabama," the, 487 
"Alamo," the, 316, 34' 
Alamo address, 334-345 
Alaska, 166-171. 651 
Alaskan boundary, 44. S3 
natives, 170. ■'' 
telegraph system, 84 
Alexander, 101 
Algiers, 186 

American, average, 533. 537 
Bar Association, 539 
Institute of Architects, speecli 

at dinner of the, 201-204 
life, essentials of, 518-521 
Mining Congress, 150 
Republics, Bureau of. 247 
Tract Society address. 270-281 
Americanism, true, 201, 237, 298 
Annapolis, address at, 209-216 
Anthracite coal strike, 57. 58, 100 
Anti-trust laws, 62 

suits, 58 
Apache, 89 
Appalachians, 469 
Appeal for the Nation, 92-94 
Appomattox. 28, 386 
Arbitration treaties, i75. 212-214 
Arizona. 652 
Arkansas, 533. 538 

consistory. 538 re ^ c 

Armenians m Turkey, efforts for 

Armyr89. 90, 105. 183. 305. 611 

reduction of, 80, 81 
Arnold, Captain, 554 
Arrogance and envy, 112, 113 
Athletics, 12-15 
Atlanta, 556 

addresses, 488, 50S 
Attorney-General, 62, 619 



Attorney-neneral's reports, 165, 168 
.Austin, address, 330-334 

Texas, 324- 
Average man, the, 411 



B 



Batangas, 644 , _ , 

Barry, Commodore John, 294 

Be.-ivers case, 165 

Beirut. 54 

Bell, General, 30S 

Benson case, 165 

Birmingham, Ala., addresses, 530 

Bliss, Cornelius N., 98 

Blue Schoolhousc (Colo.) address, 

345-350 
Boll-weevil, 144 
Brandywine, 261 
Braun. President, 2.^7 
Breaches of public trust, 619 
Brewer, Justice, 279. 280 
Brooklyn, .^78. 380, 383. 386, 457 
Brown, Colonel John Mason, 408 
Brownson, Captain, 209, 214 
Buell, General, 28 
Buffalo, 639 
Bulloch, .\nnie, 485 

Irving, 487 ,, - 

James Dunwaddy, 487 



Csesar, 101 , „ 

California. 144. "45. '52, 316. 038 
Cannon, Hon. J. G., letter to, 47. 94 
Capital organization, 368-.^ 74 
Capital Square (Richmond) address, 

456 
Capron, Allen. 296 
Caribbean Sea, 44. 5o8, S09 
Carlisle, John G., 252 
Carroll, Bishop, 198 . tt„:„„ 

Catholic Total Abstinence Union, 

436 
Cavite, 644. 64s 
Celtic literature, 397. 398 
Cemetery Ridge, 7,2 
Census Bureau, 634 
Chapelle. Archbishop, S48 



666 



Index 



Character, 384, 394 
Charlotte, N. C, address, 482-485 
Chautauqua address, 451-467 
Chicago, 183, 361, 362, 365, 374, 
^, ,375, 450 
Children, care of, 340 
China, 469, 498-500 
part played in, 53 
trade treaty with, 54 
trade with. 159, 160, 178 
Chinese Empire, 45 

immigration, 630-632 
Choate, Ambassador, 400, 407 
Civic Club of New York, 115 
Civil Service, 633 

law, 67 
Civil VVar, the, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28, 
30, 55. 56, 83, 84, 226, 29s, 
302, 306, 315, 316, 339, 341, 
343. 346, 373. 430, 457. 459. 
483. 489. 507. 516, 531. 538, 
558 
Clark Uni\'«rsity address, 403-408 
Class of '71, Naval Academy, 214 
Clay, Henry, 466 

Senator, 485, 488, 489 
Cleveland, President, 55, 97, 587 
Climate and agriculture, 142 
Coalfields, national ownership of, 58 
Cockrell, Senator, 203 
Code of Alaska, 168 
Coghlan, Admiral, 301, 302, 303 
College sport, 427 
Collegiate training, 479-481 
Colon, 58, 655 

Colorado, 138, 350, 353, 354 
Agricultural College, 353 
"Colorado," the, 554, 555 
Colored Industrial Association ad- 
dress, 456 
Columbia University, 9 
Commerce, act to regulate, 134 
Commerce and Labor, Department 
of. 62, 126, 451, 452, 582, 
618 
Secretary of, 97 
Commercial Club, 362 
Commission of public lands, 151 
Common law in America, 62 
Commonplace, vital quality of, 529 
Compromises, 398 

Compulsory school attendance, 139 
Confederacy, 377, 527 
Army, 532 
cemeteries, 625 
Navy, 487 
soldiers, 544 
veterans, 471 

veterans address, 544, 545 
Conferences of nations, 595 
Congress, 50, 54. 55. 60, 71, 90, 
133. 137. 141. 158. 160, 162, 
165, 166, 169, 171, 188, 199, 
203, 294, 305, 358, 366, 389, 
451. 505. 560, 566, 567, 577, 
578. 579. 586, 588. 589. 590, 
S9I, 625, 639, 647, 650, 652 



"Congress," the, 554 

Constitution, the, 30, 51, 162, 165, 

166, 374 
Consular force, 657 

system, 157 
Continentals, the, 32 
Copyright law, 636 
Corporations, 484 

-'^"c.^^" nS^' ^^' 1°°' 131-133, 

s^(>, 588 

great, 127-13S 

great, necessary, 127-128 

growth of, 492 

sovereignty over, 562-577 

State control of, 370 

supervision over, 355-359, 405, 
448, 455 
Corruption, 504, 505 

in elections, 593-595 
Cortelyou, chairman, 97-100 
Cotton, 497-498 
Courtesy is international, 7-8 
Crane, W. Murray, 98 

Senator, 400 
Criminal law, 619 
Crisis in national history, 30, 31 
Crockett, Davy, 329, 323 
Cromer. Lord, 433 
Crooked public servants, 515 
Crop reporting system, 145 
Cuba, 45, 49, 53, 144, 177, i7g, j8s, 
257. 259, 260, 447, 509, 654 

hygiene of, 432 
Cuban reciprocity treaty. 42, 73 
"Cumberland," the, 554. 



D 

"Dakota," the, 195 
Dallas addresses, 314, 324 
Declaration of Independence, 30 
Defensive letter, 97, 100 
Deficit, imaginary. 82 
Demagogy in legislation, 360 
Democratic administration, 99 

committee, 98 

Convention, New York, 58 

ineptitude, 47. 50, 68 

monetary policy. 58, 61 
Deneen, Governor, 377 
Denver, 352 

Chamber of Commerce address, 
350-360 
Dewey, Admiral. 303, 304 
Dickinson, Judge, 365, 366 
District commissioners, 139 

of Columbia, 108, 121, 137, 140, 
164 
"Doctor," the, 442 
Dominican contracts, foreign, 254 

debt, 248 

protocol, message about the, 241- 
260 
Downey incident, the, 11 6-1 18 
Duffy, Colonel, 292 
Dunne, Mayor, 375, 376 



Index 



667 



Durham, N. C, 478 
Dutch blood, 106 



Educators, 423-429 

Egypt, 186 

Elector, the great, loi 

Electorate, corruption of, 164 

Ellis Island, 277, 278 

Emerson, 301 

Employers' Association, 374 

liability, 123, 579 . 
Encroachments, executive, 54 , , . 
Endicott, Mordecai T., Rear-Admi- 

ral, 653 
English blood, 106 

settlement, 104 
Ernst, Colonel Oswald H., 653 
Expatriation, 164 
Expenditures, national, 83. nQ 



Far East, 53. i77, 180 
Farmer and tariff, 76-79 
Farragut, 2S0, 281, 302, 304, 426 
Federal control of corporations, 370 
Federal law, 121 
Fifteenth amendment, 92 
Fifty-eighth Congress, 119, 133 „ 
Filipinos, 46, 86, 87, 88, 92. 187, 
188, 189 
in public service, 643 
Financial crises, averting. 591 

legislation, 40 
Finn element, 106 
Florida, 505, 510 

Baptist College address, S10-513 
Foodstuffs, misrepresentation and 

Interstate commerce, 637 
Foreign affairs, 461-462 

policy, 44. 51. 54, 171. 180, 212 
Forest Congress, address at, 190- 
201 
policy, 146-151 „ 

preservation, 190-194. 198 
reserves, 469-471 
service, 150-151, 623 
Formosa, 186 
Forty years after, 391 
Fourteenth amendment, 92 
Frederick the Great, loi, 102, 103 
Address at unveiling the Statue 
of, 101-107 
Fredericksburg, battle of, 21, 296 
Freedom, 24, 25 
French element, 106 

Huguenots. 104 
Fulton, 426 



Galvan, Manuel de J., 252 
Game refuges, 152 



Garfield, Chief, 100 
Gaynor case, 165 
General land office, 591 
Georgia, 485. 488, 500, 501 
German Ambassador, loi, 103, 105, 

107 , 

blood, 102, 103, 105, 106, 107 
Emperor, loi, 102, 103. 107 
people, loi, 104, 107 
Germantown, 261 
Germany, loi, 102, 393 
Gettysburg, battle of, 21, 22, 24. 
30, 32 
^Memorial Day address, 21-29 
Gibbons, Cardinal, 108 
Goddard, Norton, iiS 
Gold standard, 40, 59 

act, 60 
Good citizenship, 108-110 
Gould, Miss, 387 ., , „ 

Government an aid only, 218 

buildings, 202-204 
Graduate school. 410 , , j 

Graduating Class of the Naval Acad- 
emy, address to the, 209-210 
remarks, 391-396 
Grand Army, 346, 377. 457. 5io, 
558 
address, 544 , ^ , , 
Grand Canyon of the Colorado, 152. 

638 
Grant, General, 28, 226, 236, 247, 
305, 377. 426, 457. 463. 466, 
490, 558 ^ 
Dominican Commission. 247 
Judge Robert, 288 
Gray, Judge George, 252 
Green case, 165 

Greene, General, 463 , , „ o 

Greensboro, N. C, address, 4817482 
Groton School prize day exercises, 

address at the, 8-20 
Guatemala, 144 
Guilford, N. C, 481 
Gustavus Adolphus, loi 



Hadley, President, 25 
"Hague," The, S95. 596 

call for congress at, 95. i70 

tribunal, 249, 600 

tribunal rescued, 5^ 
Hains, Brig.-Gen. Peter C, 653 
Haiti, Minister of, 275 
Hampton Roads, iS5 
Hancock, General, 28 
Hannibal, 10 1, 102 
Harris, Joel Chandler, 501. 502 
Harrison, President, 587 
Harrod, Benjamin M., 653 
Harvard University, 9. 397. 407. 
408, 414. 415, 417. 422 

University address, 407-422 
Hawaii. 53. 171. 648, 649 
Hawthorne, 426 



668 



Index 



Hay, Secretary, 65, 427. 429 

Henderson, Colonel, 466 

Henry, Patrick, 465 

Herkimer, General, 105 

Higginson, Colonel, 415 

Hill, Governor, 99 

Hohenzollern, illustrious House of, 

lOI 

Hollander settlement, 104 

Holy Cross College remarks, 397. 

398 
Home missionary work, 276, 280 
Homely virtues, 396 
Honolulu, 171 
Houston, Sam, 3-9. 3.33 
Howard, General, :;8 
Hungarian Club dinner, address at 

the, 236-241 



Idealism in politics, 398 

Ideals, 15-19 

Igorrotes, 88 

Illinois, 138 

Immigrants, care for, 277 

Immigration, 160, 161, 626-632 

Inaugural address (1905). 269-272 

India, 186 

Indian agents, 1 53-155 

Bureau, 155 

policy toward the, 153 

Territory, 652 
Indians, 640 

Industrial problems, 463-465 
Industrialism, 120, 350-353 
Injunctions in labor disputes, 580 
Insolence to foreign powers, 383 
Insurance corporations, 586 
Interparliamentary Union, 596 

remarks to the, 95, 96, 176, 596 
Interstate commerce, 220-223 

Act, 63, 325 

Commission, 134, 223. 323, 354, 
475. 567. 571. 572 

laws, 62 

suits, 58 
Irish element, 104, 106 

elemental virtues, 296 
Iroquois Club banquet, address at 

the, 365-374 
Irrigation (see also "West"), 83, 

621 
Isthmian Canal, 40, 44, 49, 50,^ 180, 

211, 264, 528 
Isthmus, 50, 51 

health of the, 508 
Italian element, 106 
Italy, 254 



Jackson, Andrew, 264, 265, 295, 466 

Stonewall, 465, 466, 483 
Jacksonville, Fla., address, 505-513 



Jamestown, 104 

Tricentennial Celebration, :5s, 

624 
Java, 1S6 

Jefferson, Mrs., 466 
Jews in Roumania, 52 
Johnston, General, 463 
Jolo Disturbance, 644 
Judiciary, 55 , ^ r 

Justice, Department of, 57, 63, 167, 

451, 474, 6:8 
Juvenile courts, 138 



K 

Kansas, 195 
"Kearsarge," the, 487 
Kentucky, 316, 408 
King's Mountain, 468 
Kirkpatrick, Mr., 334 
Kishineff massacre petition, 52 
Knox, Attorney-General, 100 
Kunersdorf, 102 



Labor, Bureau of, 126 
legislation, 125-128 
problem, 120-123 
questions, 570 
unionism, 125 
Lawrence, Bishop, 19, 409 
Lee, General Fitzhugh, 466 
General Harry, 29s 
General Robert E., 226, 463, 46Sf 
466, 490, 551 
Legal profession, 539-543 
Legislative foresight in medical mat- 
ters, 311-313 
Letter -accepting nomination, 47-94 
Leuthen, victory of, 102 
Levee system, 550, 623 
Life Saving Service pensions, 639 
Lincoln, Abraham, 25, 31, 34. 47. 
91, 217, 218, 224, 225, 226, 
234, 261, 262, 272, 284, 400, 
426, 427, 466, 502 
his Gettysburg speech, 22 
dinner, address at the, 224-236 
Little Rock addresses, 533-543. 544 
Logansport, Ind., 74 . 

Long Island Medical Society, ad- 
dress to the, 429-433 
Louisiana, 408, 544. 545, 546, S49. 

550 
Lowell, Lawrence, 13 , , 

Luther Place Memorial Church, ad- 
dress at, 205-208 
Lutheran Church, 205-207 



M 

:\Iabie, Mr., 394 
McClellan, General, 28 



Index 



669 



McDonnell, Peter, zgz 
Macfarland, Mr., 112 
McKinley, President, 55, 63, 83, 91, 

159. 587. 625 
Mac Monnies, 426 
McNeill, John Chas., 477 
Magoon, Chas. E., 653 
Magyar element, 106 
Manassas Field manoeuvres, 81, 183 
Manila, 303, 304, 388 
Marine Hospital Service, 158, 171 
Mariposa big tree garden, 638 
Maxwell, Mr., 422 
Meade, General, 28 
Meagher, Brigadier, 296 
Meats, inspection of, 83, 142 
Mecklenburg Declaration, 467, 483 
Medals of honor, 123, 184 
Medical ethics, 309-311 
Merchant Marine, Commission, 624 

and tariff, 80 
Merchants' Club, 362 

luncheon (Chicago), address at, 

■KT 361-3.65 

Merger suat, 57 

Messages to Congress (1904 and 
1905), 1 19-189, 560-658 

"Merrimac" and "Monitor" battle, 
554 

Mexican War, 306, 408 

Mexico, 494 

Militarism, 210-212 

Minneapolis, 69 

"Missouri," battleship, 389 

Mob interests, 404, 405 

Mobile, Ala., address, 513-518 

Monitor policy, 58-61 

Monroe Doctrine, 45, 52, 176-179, 
180, 211, 212, 242, 258, 259, 
260, 264, 307, 323, 345, 363, 
403, 404, 427-436, 602-611 

Monte Cristi, Santo Domingo, 254 

Montgomery, Ala., address, 527-530 
General, 295 

Moody, Attorney-General, 100 

Moore, John B., 254 

Morgan, horse, the, 353 

Moros, 88, 89, 644 

Morse, 26 

Motherhood, 282-291, 343 

Muhlenberg, General, 105 



N 



Napoleon, 101 
Napoleonic struggles, 24 
National art gallery proposed, 157 
National board of trade, 150 
National Congress of Mothers, ad- 
dress before the, 282-291 
National, Education Association, ad- 
dress to the. 422-429 

Guard. 81, 183, 184, 305, 328, 

_ 3^9, .484. 519. 538 

irrigation congress, 150 

live stock association, 150 



National, public health service, 157 

wool growers' association, 150 
Naturalization, 160-164, 617-619 

laws, revision needed, 163 
Naturalized citizens, 65-67 
Naval, Academy address, 209-216 
branch Y. M. C. A. address, 

386-391 
marksmanship, 54, 388 
Medical School, address to the 

graduates of, 309-314 
training, 214-216 
training station, 362 
Navy, 51, 52, 54, 105, 171, 172, 
180-183, 184, 185, 263-265, 
294, 300-305, 309-314, 362, 
386, 387, 389, 390, 404, 516, 
547. 552-555. S9i. 611, 613. 
614, 617 
Secretary of the, 383 
Nebraska, 195 
Negro, criminal, 535 

delegates of Colored Industrial 
Association address, 456 
Negroes as citizens, 513, 521-527 
New Hampshire, 295 
New Mexico, 652 
New Orleans, 295 

address, 544-553 
New York, 183, 204 

City, 224, 236, 292, 300, 383 
Democratic Convention, 58 
Niagara Falls, 638 
Nomination for President, letter ac- 
cepting, 47-94 
Nomination Address (1904), 36-47 
North Carolina, 467, 477, 478, 481, 

482, 483, 484 
Northern, Securities Company, 57, 
100 
\'irginia. Army of, 32 

O 

Ocean Grove, N. J., 422 

Oklahoma, 195, 632 

Old age pensions, 56 

Olney, Attorney-General, 100 

"On to Richmond," 26 

O'Neill, Bucky, 296 

Organization of capital and labor, 

43, 61, 62, 63 
Organized labor, 489-492 
Orient interests, 88 
Oyster Bay, 36, 47, 429 
address, 36-47 



Pacific cable, 45 

Panama, 45, 50, 177, 431, 432, 655 
Canal (see "Isthmian Canal" 
also), 82, 84, 321, 359, 363, 
366, 404, 431, 462, 506-508, 
513-515. 516, 547, 550, 591. 
603. 653-656 

Parker. Judge, 97-100 



670 



Index 



Party politics, .-565 
Patterson, Senator, 352 

memorial cup, 477 
Peace, 95, 395 

attitude toward, S97-602 
Pennsylvania, 30, 205 
Pennypacker, Governor, 21 
Pension Bureau, 152, 625 

Office, 55 

Order, 55-57, 78 
Periodical Publishers' Association, 
remarks at the dinner of the, 
^ . 5-8 

Philadelphia, 217, 261, 293, 294 
Philippine, administration, 84 

civil service, 68 

disasters, 642 

football, 45, 49, S3 
Philippines, 183, 185-189, 212, 264. 
493, 513. 642-647, 651 

independence of the, 85-92 
Physical prowess, 12-15 
Piedmont Club, 500 
Piatt amendment, 177, 257 
Playgrounds, public, 140 
Poe, 426 

Political contributions, 97-100 
Porto-Rican administration, 84, 171 
Porto Rico, 53, 493, 649-651 
Post-Office Department, 156 
Potoi-nac, Army of the, 28 
Practical, being, 35 
Prague, victory of, 102 
Presidency Nomination Address, 36- 

47 
Prig, the, 10 
Princeton University, g 
Productive scholarship, 413 
Prosperity, general, 560 
Protection as robbery, 71-73 
Prussia, loi 

Public, health and Marine Hospital 
Service, 549 

schools, 10 

service, efficiency of, 84 

land laws, 621 
Puerto Plata. 253 



Q 

Quarantine laws desired, 157 
Quay, Senator, 21, 22 
Quinn, Mr., 374-376 



R 

Race, decadence, 135-137 

problems, 227-233 
Railroad rate regulation, 124, 471- 
r, . '♦76 
Railway, employees, 556, 578 

Employees' Orders, address to 

the, 556-560 
oversight by Government, 557- 
560, 567-577 



Raleigh, N. C, 467. 477. 558 
Randolph of Roanoke, 414 
Rebates, 474 
Rebellion, the, 30 
Reclamation Act, 621 

service, 145 
Religious tolerance, iio-iii 
Representatives, House of, 60 
Republican, Club of New York City, 
224 

desert, 36, 37 

National Committee, chairman 
of, 97, 98 
National, Convention, 36, 47 

nomination, acceptance of, 47-94 

party, 49 

policy, 56 

record, 48, 91 
Revenue insufficient, 589 
Revolution, the, 30, 104-105, 261, 

294. 295. 301, 306, 468, 469 
Reynolds, General, 28 

Jim, 236 
Rhodes, Mr., 530 

Richmond, Va., 456, 458, 465, 544 
Riis, Jacob, 236 
Roman Catholic Church, 644 
Root, Elihu, Secretary, 98, 400, 428 
Rose, Judge, 538, 539 
Rosen, Ambassador, 596 
Rosencranz, General, 28 
Rossbach, victory of, 102 
Roswell, Georgia, 486 

address, 485-487 
Roumania, treatment of Jews in, 52 
Rural free delivery, 83 
Ruskin, 202 

Russia and the Jews, 65 
Russo-Japanese War, 181 



Safety appliance law, 125 

St. Gaudens, 426 

St. Mark's School, g 

St. Patrick's Church, remarks at, 

108-1 1 1 
St. Paul's School, 9 
Samar, 645 

San Antonio, 334, 340 
San Francisco, 204, 303 
Santiago, Cuba, 296, 388, 484, 510 
Santo Domingo, 241-260, 273-275, 

402, 403, 444-448, 607-611 
Improvement Company, 245, 251, 

252 
Scandinavian element, 106 
Schick, Dr., 276 
Schiller, 393 
Scotch blood, 106 
Self-government, 586 
Self-help, 278 
Self-restraint in the good citizen, 

5-8 
Semmes, 513, 516 
Senate, 60, 17s, 247 



Index 



671 



Seven Years' War, 102 
Shea, Mr., 274-277 
Sheridan, General, 28, 29S 

Phil., 466 
Sherman, General, 28, 463, 558 

Anti-trust Act, 62 
Shiivp, N. C., 484 ^ , , 
Shonts, Theodore P., 367, 6S3 
Sickles, General, 28 
Silk production, 145 
Simpson, Mr., 320 
Sioux, 89 
Slav element, 106 
Slocum, General, 377, 381, 384 

statue, speech at unveiling of 
the, 378-386 
Smith, Captain Joe, 554 
Smithsonian Institution, 157 
Smoke nuisance, 637 
Symrna, 54 
Snob, the, 10-12 
Sobriety, 432, 435 . 
Social transformations, 280-281 
Society of the Friendly Sons of St. 
Patrick, address at the dinner 
of the, 292-299 

in Philadelphia, 293 
Sons of the American Revolution, 
address at the dinner of the, 
300-308 
Southern, magnanimity, 457-459 

struggle, 459, 460 
Spanish War, 49, 82, 186, 484, 519 
Spooner Act, 655 
Square deal, a, 476 
Stafford, Rev. Father, 108 
State, Secretary of, iS9. 164, 275, 

427 
State, Agricultural Colleges, 141 

Department, 66, 67, 248, 587, 
588, 618, 656 

experiment stations, 141 
Steadfastness, 32-35 
Steuben, General, 105 
Stevens, John F., 653 
Strange, Rt. Rev. Robert, 232 
Strikers' committee, remarks to the, 

374-376 
Success, ordinary, 19-20 

real, 347-350 

in life, 239 
Sullivan, General, 295 

Mrs., Mother of Governors, 295 
Svilzer, Congressman, 236 
Sumatra, 144 
Sumter, Fort, 408 
Supreme Court of United States, 

407, 578, 593, 640 
Swift, Dr., 276, 277 



Taft, Governor, 92 
Taggart, Thomas, 98 
Tangier, 54 
Target practice. 3<)0 



Tariff, the, 69-80 

benefits of, 75-80 

legislation, 41 

revision, 69-73 
Teamsters' Association, 374 
Tennessee, 316 
Terril, ex-Minister, 325 
Texan character, 328, 333 
Texas, 144, 315, 316, 317, 318, 319, 
321, 324, 328, 330, 331, 333, 
340, 342, 344, 379 

battleship, 390 

Legislature, 325, 326, 329 

Legislature, address to, 324-329 

National Guard, 329 
Thackeray, 487 
Thomas, General, 28 
Tolerance, age of, 207 
Tracy, General, 393 
Trades union talk, 433-439 
Treasury, 82 

Secretary of the, 159 

Department, 592 
Trieber, Judge, 533 
Trinity College, N. C, 478 
Troy, 399 

Trust supervision, 218-223 
Trusts, 418-420 

and the tariff, 69-71 

dealing with, 38, 50, 61, 63 
Turkestan, 186 
Turkey, 144 

Armenians in, 52, 54 

Christians in, 65 
Tuskegee, Ala., address, 518-527 

Institute address, 521-527 

U 

Uncle Remus, 501 

Union League Club, address at the, 

217-224 
University luxury, 414 
University of Pennsylvania, 266, 267 

address at the, 261-268 
Uprightness, 238 

in legislation, 502-503 



Valley Forge, 29, 30, 32, 33, 261 
Venezuela, 45, 54, 177. 249 
V'ermont, 353 

Veterans of Civil War, 152, 527 
Veteran pensions, 55-57. 84 
Virginia, 205, 456, 457, 465. 624 

W 

Wage-workers' rights, 122 
Wagner, Rev. Charles, introduction 

of, II2-II9 

Wagners "The Simple Life," 112, 

1 14, 1 19 
Wallace, Mr., 367 



672 



Index 



War, College, 10 1, 103 
of 1812, 301, 306" 
Warfield, Governor, 209, 210 
Washington, Booker T., 521 

George, 30, 31, 32, 34, 217, 234, 
261-268, 272, 295, 301, 307, 
400-426, 463 
C:ty, 5, loi, 108, 112, 138-14D, 
190, 201, 204, 276, 282, 301, 
580, 637 
Memorial Chapel, remarks at 
„. the, 29-35 

Wayne, General Anthony, 295, 463 
Wealth, 494-496 
hatreds, 534 
Welsh element, 106 
West, irrigation of the, 43, 83 
"West X'irginia," the, address, 552- 

Westendorps, bankers, 250, 231 
White, Dr., 549, 550 

Justice, 408 
White House, 273 

address, 556-560 
_ remarks at the, 95 
Wife-beaters, 140 
Wiley, Coloniel, 527 
\\'ilkesbarre address, 433-439 



Williams College, 401 

address, 398-407 
Williamstown, ^Mass., 398 
Wjlson, Secretary, 192, 295, 35.3 
Wisdom ni liberty, 25-28 
W^omen in industry, 582 
W'ood, General Leonard, 433 
Worcester, iMass., 391, 397 
Workingman's standard of living, 

74 
W'orkingnien and tariff, 79 
Wright, Governor, 92, 188 

President, 395 



Yale University, 9, 25 

Yellow fever epidemic, 549 

Yellowstone Park, 152, 639 

Yosemite, 152, 638, 639 

Young Men's Christian Association, 

,r , 114,. 388, 439 

Yukon River Railway, 169 



Zorndorf, victory of, 102 






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